THE 



HISTORY 



OF 



KANSAS CITY, 



TOGETHER WITH 



A Sketch of the Commercial Resources of the 
Country with Which it is 
Surrounded. 



By w. h. mi LLER 

SECRETARY OF THE BOARD OF TRADE. 



Illustrated. 



KANSAS CITY ; 

BIRDSALL & MILLER 

1881. 






PRESS OF 

RAMSEY, MILLETT & HUDSON, 

KANSAS CITY, MO. 



^«^t 



PREFACE. 



With much diffidence on the part of the writer the following pages are sub- 
mitted to the public. They are the result of much patient research, yet none 
can be better aware of the imperfections in details than the writer. It has been 
rather the aim to trace the causes that have led to the almost phenomenal growth 
of Kansas City, than to follow the details of that growth ; yet sufficient attention 
has been given to the leading events in the history of Kansas City, it is hoped, 
to convey an idea of them, as well as to the causes that led to them and to the 
development here of the city that at this tmie exists. 

The writer beheves that the causes leading to the development of the city in 
any one epoch of her history were but the development of causes in a preceeding 
epoch, and that the causes of future development exist at this time, which are as 
much the outgrowth of past causes as the present large city is the outgrowth of 
past events. Some effort has been made to bring to view these causes both past 
and present, it is hoped not without some success. 

As it is, it is respectfully submitted to public criticism, with the hope that its 
accounts and conceptions of things may coincide with the recollections of those 
of our citizens who were witnesses of many of the events it recounts, yet with 
the fear that they will find much that for accuracy's sake they could wish altered. 

The Author. 
Kansas City, June, 1881. 



^ 



GOITMTS. 



^ 



CHAPTER I. 

Page. 

Introductory.— How Ancient Cities were 
Founded and Built^ — The Considerations 
Determining their Location— American 
Cities, how Located and Built — Western 
Cities — Tlie Importance of Transporta- 
tion Facilities — Tlie People who Determ- 
ined their Location, aud Why— "Motion 
Follows the Line of Least Resistance."... 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Early Expeditions and Settlements.— 
The Fur Companies — The First Settle- 
ment of Kansas City, How and Why it 
was Made— In the Wilderness— The En- 
try of the Land— The French Settlement 
and Life Among the French Settlers— 
The Advantages of the Place Recog- 
nized by Others— An Anecdote of Wash- 
ington Irving ■ 8 

CHAPTER III. 

The Great Indian Trade.- Proposed Re- 
moval (^f the Indians to the West — The 
Nunil)ers to be Moved— The Removal — 
The New Locations— Effect on Western 
Trade— Founding of Westport, and Con- 
centration of the Trade There 17 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Santa Fe Trade. — Its Origin and 
Character— Its Real Beginning— The Ef- 
fect of Steamboats — It Locates at Inde- 
pendence—Changing to Westport — Char- 
acter and Methods of the Trade— Statis- 
tics to 1888 21 

CHAPTER V. 

The Founding of Kansas City.— The Sit- 
uation in 1838 — The First Ferry — The 
Santa Fe and Indian Trade Tend to Kan- 
sas City— Purchase of the Prudhomme 
Estate for a Town Site — The Survey and 
Sale of 1839— Troubles of the Company 
Retarded the Town — What was Thought 
of It— Its Earlv Trade— A Doscriiition of 
Early Kansas City— Efforts to Divert the 
Santa Fe Trade— Its Suppression in 1813 — 
Statistics — Situation in 1813- The Great 
Flood of 1844— The Events of 1813 to 1816 
—The Mexican War 27 

CHAPTER VI. 

Kansas City Redivivus.— Re-organization 
of the Town Company — The First Great 
Sale of Lots — An Interesting Record — 
Bad Titles— Further Surveys" and Sales 
— The Company Dissolve— Town Devel- 
opment — The California Emigration — 
The Concentration of the Santa Fe and 
Indian Trades at Kansas City — Cholera 
and its Direful Effects — Municipal Or- 
ganization—The First Newspaper — Re- 
vival After the Cholera 40 



CHAPTER VII. 

Page. 
The Settlement of Kansas. — The Kan- 
sas-Nebraska Act— Preparations by Pro- 
Slavery and Anti-Slavery Parties to 
Occupy Kansas — Early Settlement — 
Kansas City Again Recognized — Devel- 
opment of Kansas — Navigation of the 
Kaw River— The Kansas Troubles— The 
Effect on Kansas City— Col. Coates 53 

" CHAPTER VIII. 

The Growth of Kansas City Prior to 
THE WjCr. — Improvements of Streets 
and Roads — Trade and Steamboats — Ri- 
val Cities— Rapid Growth of Kansas City 
— Stages and Mails — The Commerce of 
the Prairies— The First Banks, Jobbing 
Houses, and Telegraphs— The First Com- 
mercial Organization— The Panic of 1857 
—The Enlargement of the City 63 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Inception of our Railroads.— Kan- 
sas City Takes the Lead in Efforts to Se- 
cure Railroad Facilities — Her Efforts 
Start a Fever in Railroad Enterprises in 
Western Missouri and Kansas — The In- 
ception of Her Own Systiui — The Hos- 
tility of Kansas— The First Efforts in Be- 
half of Trans-Continental Railroads — 
Kansfis City in the Struggle with Both 
the Slave and Anti-Slave Sections for 
the Road — The Enthusiasm of the Pe- 
riod — Beginning of llaih-oad Work — The 
Real Founders of Kansas City, Their 
Trials and Triumphs 75 

CHAPTER X. 

Kansas City in the War. — The Excite- 
ment and Events Preceding the Great 
Struggle — The Marshaling of the Hosts 
on Both Sides— Van Horn's Battalion — 
The First Fighting— Bush-whackers and 
Red Legs— The Depression of Trade, and 
its Revival — Resumption of Raih'oad 
Building— The Great Raid of 1864 98 

CHAPTER XI. 

A Great Era in Kansas City.— The Close 
of the War — The Resumption of Rail- 
road Construction— Seven Roads and the 
Bridge Completed Before 1870 — Other 
Railroad Enterprises not Finished — Rap- 
id Growth — Schools, and Street Im- 
provements — Population Grown From « 
5,000 to 30,000 110 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Progress From 1870 to 1872.— Improve- 
ruent and Enlargement of the Railroad 
. Facilities— Inception of the Barge Line 
—Water and Gas Works Built— The Law 
Library— The Barge Line— The Exposi- 
tion, the Board of Trade, and Other Im- 
provements 126 



^I 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The Progress of 1873 to 1876.— Street Rail- 
roads—Barge Line Agitation — The Panic 
of 1873— Efforts to Get the Indian Terri- 
tory Opened to Settlement- Efforts for 
Transportation Improvements — Free 
Mail Delivery — The Securing of the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the 
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroads — 
How the Latter was Done — The Grass- 
hopper Plague— The Revision of the City 
Charter— Efforts to Secure a Mint— The 
Re-organization f)f the Board of Trade, 
and Building of the Exchange Building. 144 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Markets and Packing Houses.— His- 
tory of the Texas Cattle Trade — Its Fi- 
nal Concentration at Kansas City— Tlie 
Growth of the Market and Character of 
the Present Supply— The History of the 
Packing Business — Why It Came to 
Kansas City — Its Statistics — Tlie Grain 
Market, When and How It Started— Its 
Development^ and Circumstances At- 
tending it — Its Present Facilities and 
Magnitude 164 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Progress of Three Years. — The 
Events of 1877 — The Alton Road— The 
Union Depot— The Test of Barges on the 
Missouri — The Great Railway Strike — 
Bank Suspension — Railway Extension 



Page. 

Affecting Kansas City — The United 
States Court House and Post-office, and 
United States Courts— Rapid Growth of 
the City 176 

^CHAPTER XVI. 

The Events of 1880 to 1881.— The Establish- 
ment of the Smelting Works— The Barge 
Company Organized— The Missouri Riv- 
er Improvement Convention— The Mis- 
souri River Improvement Association 
Formed — Street Improvements — Col. 
Van Horn's Election to Congress— Rail- 
way Construction and Railway Changes 
—The Great Flood of 1881— The Growth 
of the City — Statistical Exhibit of the 
City's History 189 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Social Development of Kansas City.— 
The History of tlie Press— Social Socie- 
ties—Masons — Odd Fellows — Knights of 
Pythias — Other Secret Orders — The 
Churches, Schools, and Other Social In- 
stitutions 205 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Kansas City — Why She is and What 
She is. — A Summary of the Facts of 
Her History — The Facts that Caused 
Her Growtli — Her Markets, Her Rail- 
road System, and Fast Freight Lines- 
Steamship Agencies — The New West 
and Its Resources 241 




HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY. 



Hoiv Ancient Cities were Founded and Built — The Considerations Determining their Location — 
Hoio Modern Cities are Built, and the Consideratio?ts Determining their Location — American 
Cities, how Located and how Built — IVestern Cities — The Importance of Transportation Facil- 
ities — 77/1? People who Determined their Location, and why — *^ Motion Follows the Line of 
Least Resistance.''^ 

The first efforts of mankind to build cities antedates history, hence nothing 
very definite concerning the circumstances and methods is or can be known ; but 
in the earUer ages of the historic era, when the race was divided into compara- 
tively small and warring factions, arid afterward, when these factions grew to be 
powerful but not less warlike nations, cities were located by kings and conquerors 
and built by the people under their immediate supervision and direction. In 
those warlike ages a site of a city was determined mainly by the advantages of 
defense of the spot of ground selected, though the contiguity of fertile and pas- 
toral country seems not to have been entirely ignored ; hence cities built in those 
ages were at once the capital and fortress of the king, while immediately surround- 
ing it was a country susceptible of supporting his subjects. No regard seems to 
have been had, however, to facilities for transportation, not even so much as 
would facilitate military operations, while trade, which consisted chiefly of ex- 
change between the people of the town and the adjacent domain, was entirely 
ignored. Exhanges between people of different dominions existed only as 
pillage. 

In earlier periods, however, the conquering of one people by another, the 
combination of different cities under the same dominion and the necessities of 
military operations, seem to have caused more attention to be given to transpor- 
tation facilities in the location of cities. This was after the adoption of methods 
for utilizing the larger streams and the inland seas, and the erection of cities 
after that time seems to have been determined by the three principles of defensi- 
bility, contiguity of productive country, arid facilities for water transportation, 
and hence were usually located on large rivers or arms of the sea. At least it 
was cities so located that in this period were most prosperous and became most 
famous. 

These features continued to be the ruling factors in determining the location 
1 



6 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

of cities until after the American Revolution. The cities of the United States 
built before that time were founded, not directly by royal hands, but by those 
holding royal patents for that purpose, and the same features seem to have been 
observed by them, as were regarded by kings and conquerors for many previous 
ages in the Old World. 

BUILDING CITIES IN AMERICA. 

Since the Revolution, however, cities have ceased to be founded in the Uni- 
ted States by authority ; the people have done it themselves, without supervision 
or interference from government. The sites have been selected by individuals 
or companies; the grounds staked off, and the lots offered for sale. This done, 
the balance rested with the people, and though the number of cities founded in 
this country west of the Alleghany Mountains is almost infinite, each of which 
was expected by its founders rapidly to become a great emporium, the people 
have built but few. The popular choice among the many rivals that have pre- 
sented themselves in every section has been determined by principles as well as 
ascertained as those of old, and as easy of definition. 

CONSIDERATION OF TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

Defensibility has ceased to be a consideration, for in the interior of the Uni- 
ted States we have had no foe that made it necessary. Contiguity to fertile 
country can scarcely be said to have exerted an influence, for this country is all 
fertile. Facilities for transportation, however, have exerted a very great and con- 
trolling influence. Having never been a warlike people, and having a country of 
wonderful and varied productiveness, the Americans are, of necessity, a produc- 
ing and trading people. The chief consideration to such a people is transporta- 
tion, and the city or the proposed city, possessing this feature in the highest de- 
gree, be it wagon roads, watercourses with keel or steamboats, or railroads, will 
be most prosperous ; and the one that by such means, each in its age, has accom- 
modated the country farthest into the interior has commanded the widest extent 
of trade. The history of interior cities is but a history of the development of 
transportation in its different forms. Where we find that a place now almost ob- 
solete was once more promising than its rivals, we will likely find that it had the 
best transportation of the kind then employed, but that in some subsequent phase 
some rival took the advantage and the lead. Indeed there are but few, besides 
our own city, that from the first have held the advantage over all rivals in all 
phases of transportational development, or that stand to-day more pre-eminent in 
this regard. 

BY WHOM WESTERN CITIES WERE LOCATED. 

The importance of facilities for transportation in determining the location 
and prosperity of cities cannot be better indicated than by a brief reference to 
the character, vocation and habits of the class of men who determined the loca- 
tions of all our important western cities, though they did not actually build any 
of them. We refer to the pioneer traders, trappers and hunters who preceded the 
march of civilization from the Atlantic coast — a class now rapidly disappearing 
into tradition and history, because the wilderness, and the wild animals they 
loved to chase are gone, and the red men, their companions, associates and foes 
are rapidly going. Daniel Boone was the type of the American element in this 
class, and also of the hunters who constituted a part of it; but the most of them 
appear to have been of French origin or descent. They were divided into three 
distinct classes — hunters and trappers, traders and voyageurs. This latter class were 
always in the employ of the traders, and it was their lausiness to propel the water 
craft which the traders employed in transportation. The hunters and trappers 
were sometimes independent and sometimes in the employ of the traders. They 
penetrated far into the wilds and explored the unknown regions. They were the 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 7 

true pioneers. The furs and skins procured by them were sold to the traders, or 
procured for them. The traders, originally independent but subsequently under 
the direction of the great fur companies, established posts far into the interior of 
the wilderness, to which they transported articles suitable for traffic with the 
Indians, and such supplies as hunters and trappers wanted, and at which they 
purchased robes, skins and furs, which they transported back to the borders of 
civilization. Irving' s " Astoria" and " Booneville" give an excellent history of 
this trade, which, about the beginning of the present century, was immense, and 
extended all over the uninhabited parts of North America. The men engaged in 
it were a brave, adventurous class, for whom the wilderness and association with 
wild animals and wild men possessed more charms than civiHzation. With a 
few articles of traffic, a gun and perhaps a few tools for constructing traps, they 
pushed their way hundreds and even thousands of miles into the untrodden wil- 
derness, not knowing what moment they might fall in with some unknown 
ferocious animal, or some band of hostile savages. They put their canoes and 
rafts into streams and followed their course, not knowing to what falls or dangers 
they might lead. Their lives were a perpetual vigil, and they may be said to have 
lived with their finger on the trigger. In the beginning they confined their ex- 
cursions to a limited territory where the valuable fur animals were to be found. 
Here they spent their winters in solitude, and in the spring went with the pro- 
ceeds of their trapping to a trading post where they were disposed of and new 
supplies purchased, when they were off again into the solitude for another year. 
Subsequently they became the employees or agents of the fur companies, by whom 
expeditions of great magnitude and extended exploration were undertaken. 

The traders were mostly French, and as they employed trappers as well as 
traded with them and the Indians, and as the fur animals were chiefly found 
along streams, their posts were usually located on them or near their confluence. 
The latter were deemed the most desirable locations, as they gave access to larger 
districts of country by keel boats and pirogues, and hence more easily commanded 
a larger trade. Their only means of transportation was packing on their own 
backs, or on the backs of horses, and light water craft which could be propelled 
in the rivers with pikes. The manifest great superiority of the latter methtid for 
conducting an extensive trade is sufficient explanation of their preference for the 
confluence of streams, as the latter gave them access to more than one valley and 
thus increased possibilities for trade. This explains, also, why the vicinity of 
Kansas City became so attractive to them when they came to know of it, as the 
sequel will show that it was • for, from here they had direct access to St. Louis, 
their headquarters at the time they came here, and had also good command of the 
upper Missouri, Kansas and Platte River valleys, while it was but a short distance 
across the prairie country to the valleys of the Osage, Neosho, and Arkansas. 

The American and British Governments have always maintained miUtary 
posts on the frontier, for the protection of advancing settlement, yet they have 
never led, but always followed these men ; and military men in scientifically deter- 
mining the strategic advantages of locations for posts have always found the 
judgment of these pioneers unerring as to the points that held best command of 
the adjacent country, and have located their posts in the vicinity of the traders 
and where substantially the same advantages were secured. 

The principle underlying these facts — underlying the law of transportation 
itself — is the long since observed universal physical law that " motion follows the 
line of least resistance." The movements of communities, classes and individuals 
whether in commercial, industrial, military, or social efforts, no less than of 
physical bodies, obey this universal law. All effort emcloys the methods, and 
follows the lines that most facilitate the attainment of us object, which is but 
another form of expression of the law that " motion follows the line of least resist- 
ance." 



5 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

CHAPTER II. 
EARLY EXPEDITIONS AND SETTLEMENTS. 

The Fur Companies — Tlie First Settlement at Kansas City — Hozo and IVJiy it was Made — In the 
Wilderness — The Entry of the Land — The French Settlement, and Life Ainong the French 
Settlers — The Advantages of the Place Recognized by Others — An Anecdote of Washington 
Irving. 

The French element of the class of pioneers above referred to, settled Can- 
ada and the northwestern part of the United States, as well as the country about 
the mouth of the Mississippi River. They came into the upper Mississippi and 
Missouri Valleys in 1764, under the lead of Pierre Laclede Liguest (always called 
Laclede), who held a charter from the French Government, giving him the ex- 
clusive right to trade with the Indians in all the country as far north as St. Peters 
River. Laclede brought part of his colony from France, and received large ac- 
cessions to it in New Orleans, mainly of hunters and trappers, who had had ex- 
perience with the Indians. In the year 1764, this colony established itself on the 
west bank of the Mississippi River, and founded the present city of St. Louis. 
From this point they immediately began their trading and trapping incursions in- 
to the then unbroken wilderness in their front. Their method of proceeding 
seems to have been to penetrate into the interior and establish small local posts 
for trading with the Indians, and from whence the trappers and hunters were out- 
fitted and sent out into the adjacent woods. These local posts were many of 
them independent, but usually they were under the general management of par- 
ties in St. Louis. In this way, the country west and northwest of St. Louis was 
traversed and explored by these people at a very early day as far west as the 
Rocky Mountains, but of the extent of their operations little has been recorded; 
hence, little is known concerning the posts established by them. It is known, 
however, that such posts were established at a very early day, on the Chariton 
and Grand Rivers, in Missouri, and at Cote Sans Dessein, in Callaway county. 

In the year 1799 a post was established in the Blacksnake Hills, near St. 
Joseph, and in 1800 one was established at Randolph Bluffs, opposite and three 
miles below Kansas City. The Indian and fur trad e constituted the commerce 
of St. Louis for half a century, and when the Territory of Louisiana was ceded 
by France to the United States, in 1803, the population of St. Louis was all of 
this class of people, and the Indian and fur trade its principal interest. 

Prominent among the men who were engaged in an extensive way in this 
trade, were Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, of St. Louis, who came from France 
with Laclede. Auguste had charge of the workmen who began the clearing of 
the forest for the city of St. Louis in 1764. Both at once engaged in the fur and 
Indian trade. Pierre was interested in the posts on Grand and Chariton Rivers, 
and it is supposed was the proprietor of the post at Randolph Bluffs, which ap- 
pears to have been under the immediate charge of Louis Bartholet, afterward 
known in the settlement at the mouth of the Kaw as " Grand Louis," in counter- 
distinction to his son, who was known as " Petite Louis." Both these Chou- 
teaus were afterward connected with the Missouri Fur Company, and the sons of 
Pierre, and Francois, with the American Company. 

Probably the firstjfc-hite man who came into the territory of Jackson county 
was Col. Daniel Mor^n Boone, a son of old Daniel Boone. He came to St. 
Louis in 1787, where he was warmly received by the trappers and traders. In a 
memoir of him written by the late Dr. Johnson Lykins, of this city, it is stated 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 9 

that he spent twelve winters trapping beavers on the Blue, spending his summers 
in St. Louis. He was married in the year 1800, when he abandoned trapping. 
After the settlement of the county he returned and located on a farm near West- 
port, where he remained until his death from Asiatic cholera in 1832. 

THE FUR COMPANIES. 

The increase of the volume of any business and of the amount of capital 
employed in it, naturally leads to more extended operations and more systematic 
methods. It gives rise also to a tendency to concentrate into fewer hands. This 
was true of the fur and Indian trade as well as of all others. In 1787 this uni- 
versal tendency of business to concentrate led to an abandonment, to a large 
extent, in Canada, of the simple individual methods above described, and the 
organization of the Northwest Fur Company at Montreal. John Jacob Astor, 
of New York, having been for some time interested in the fur trade with others 
began business for himself in 1807, and in 1809 organized the American Fur 
Company. The year before this event, that is 1808, twelve persons, among 
whom were Pierre and Auguste Chouteau, residing at St. Louis, gave systematic 
shape to the trade of the Missouri valley by the organization of the Missouri Fur 
Company, of which, Manuel Lisa, a Spaniard, was the leader. Sometime pre- 
vious to this the Mackinaw Company was organized in the northwest in the region 
of the lakes. About 1809 or 1810 the Missouri, American and Northwestern 
companies began to push their expeditions across the Kocky Mountains about the 
head-waters of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, with a view of establishing a 
chain of posts across the continent, and they thus became strong rivals. They 
made one expedition each and effected the desired lodgment, but, owing to the 
unfortunate killing of a Blackfoot chief, there arose a hostility on the part of those 
Indians which drove out the American and Missouri companies. 

At this time there was another more northern company operating in the 
nothwest, known as the Hudson Bay Company. In 18 10 Mr. Astor organized 
the Pacific Fur Company and undertook the Astoria enterprise, of which Wash- 
ington Irving has written such an excellent history. In 1811 the Mackinaw com- 
pany was bought out by the American and Northwestern companies, jointly, and 
its territory and effects divided between them. This year the American company 
sent a second expedition up the Missouri River under charge of Wilson P. Hunt, 
who was closely followed and strongly opposed by a second expedition of the 
Missouri company, under Manuel Lisa. 

During the war of 181 2, the Astoria enterprise failed, and it was some years 
before the American company again attempted extended operations in the far 
northwest. In 181 3 the Missouri Fur Company was merged into the American, 
and in 1819 a branch house of the latter was established at St. Louis, under the 
general direction of Samuel Abbott. The Chouteaus and others who had been 
connected with the old Missouri company then became connected with it. Pierre 
Chouteau, eldest son of Pierre Chouteau, who came from France, was quite promi- 
nent in its operations, and his brother, Francois Chouteau, was also connected with 
it This company having inherited the posts and trade of the Missouri com- 
pany, occupied the territory included in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, and 
extended also into Arkansas and the Indian Territory, although there were still 
a number of independent traders in this territory. After the absorption of the 
Missouri company, the American company began to make great efforts to monop- 
olize the trade of the southwest by rooting out the independent traders. In pur- 
suance of this, Francois Chouteau was sent into the country to establish posts and 
to bring the local traders into subordination to the company. At what time he 
first entered upon this work is unknown, but he was thus engaged for several 
years. Among the posts thus established by him, was one on the Kaw River 
about twenty miles from its mouth, known as the "Four Houses," from the fact 



10 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

that it consisted of four log houses so arranged as to inclose a square court equal 
in size to the width of one of the houses. In other words a square was marked 
off and the houses built so that one end of each should be on one line of the 
square, the corners touching. This form of construction presented in each di- 
rection a defensible front equal to the length of two houses and the width of 
another. 

FIRST SETTLEMENT AT KANSAS CITY. 

In the spring of 182 1 M. Chouteau was sent back to this country to establish a 
general agency for the posts he had established or connected with the company, 
from which supplies could be sent to the posts, and at which the proceeds of the 
trade could be collected. The extent of this trade was such as to demand an 
establishment of this kind nearer than St. Louis. The knowledge of the country 
he had already acquired enabled him to judge of the merits of different points for 
such agency, having in view always the advantage offered by each for extended 
operations by the methods of transportation then employed. At the Kawsmouth 
he had access by water to the entire valleys of the Kaw, Missouri, Platte and 
smaller tributaries, while it afforded the shortest land transit to the Indians of the 
plains and to the valleys of the Osage, Neosho and Arkansas. Hence, with that 
unerring judgment for which his class was peculiar, he selected this point and 
established himself in the bottom opposite Randolph Bluffs, about three miles 
below what is now Kansas City. This was the first recognition of the natural 
advantages of this angle of the river for a large distributive trade, and the actual 
founding of the interest which has since expanded into the varied and wide ex- 
tended activities of this city. He brought with him at this time about thirty men, 
all of whom were employed in the service of the company as courriers des bois or 
voyageurs, and through them he concentrated at his general agency here the trade 
of the trans-Missouri country. His post at this point was in a sense a trading 
post for the Indians near by, but its distinctive feature was as a depot of supply and 
as a point of concentration for traders, trappers, hunters, and the interior posts. 
In the fall of the same year he brought his family to this post in a keel boat, 
which was towed all the way from St. Louis» The men who came with M. 
Chouteau, in 1821, were, with few exceptions, dispatched into the interior, where 
they established trading posts or traveled and traded among the Indians. 

At a later date, 1825, M. Chouteau's younger brother, Cyprian, joined him 
here and soon afterward built a trading house on the south side of the Kaw River 
about opposite the present site of Muncie. A few years later he was joined here 
by another brother, Frederick, now living at Westport, in this county, and after- 
ward they removed their post about eighty miles up the Kaw River. 

In 1826 there was a flood in the rivers which washed away M. Chouteau's 
houses opposite Randolph Bluffs and caused great loss. A part of the stock was 
taken to Randolph Bluffs; he sent his family to the Four Houses, and soon after- 
ward rebuilt his house, but this time higher up and on higher ground, which is 
now embraced in what is known as Guiuott's Addition to Kansas City. This 
place became wellknown as "Chouteau's Warehouse," and was the landing place 
for large amounts of freight for Indian trade, and for the trade with northern 
Mexico, which subsequently sprung up here. 

M. Chouteau subsequently entered the land on which his house stood, 
thus becoming a permanent resident. He continued here until he died in 1840, 
and his aged wife and his son, Pierre M. Chouteau, still reside in this city. 

Soon after the flood above referred to, the men who came with Mr. Chouteau 
in 1821, and others of the same class, who had been living among the Indians 
and in the mountains, began to gather here with their families, to settle, and thus 
established that wonderful French settlement, which, for a quarter of a century, 
existed here. This settlement was never very large, probably never exceeded a 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 11 

few dozen families, but it was always important as the headquarters of a very ex- 
tensive trade. 

Of the location made by the people little is known, but Louis Bartholet 
(Grand Louis) settled on the bottom north of the junction of Fifth and Bluff streets 
and at a point now near the middle of the Missouri River. Calise Montardeau 
settled at the foot of Delaware street, and opened a farm of a few acres on the 
hill, the center of which was about the present crossing of Fourth and Delaware 
streets. Louis Uneau settled at about the foot of Main street, and Louis Roy, 
whose son afterward established the first ferry across the river at this point, 
settled on the low lands a little below the foot of Grand avenue. Besides these 
there were a number of others who were known in the Kawsmouth settlement 
after Americans began to come into the adjacent country, but whether they came 
with M. Chouteau, or afterward, is not known. Among these were Gabriel 
Prudhomme, Gabriel and Louis Phillabert, Clement Lessert, Benedict Raux, 
Pierre La Siberte, Louis Tromley, Benj. Lagotrie, John Gray, Maj. Dripps, Louis 
Tourjon, Louis Ferrier, M. Vertefeuylle, M. Cabori and John Le Sarge. 

IN THE WILDERNESS. 

At the time this general agency was established it was practically in the heart 
of the western wilderness. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois were but 
sparsely settled, and still contained all the indigenous Indian tribes. The ad- 
mission of Missouri into the Union was pending, and was not consummated until 
afterward. At the time of its admission the State had a population of but 66,586, 
mostly along the Mississippi. The population of St. Louis was but 5,500. The 
Indian title to the country south of the Missouri River had been extinguished 
soon after the establishment of Fort Osage in 1808, except twenty-four miles 
along the western border. The Indian title to the country north of the river and 
west of a line running due north from the mouth of the Osage River, had been 
extinguished in 18 15, and settlements had been made in Saline county in 1810, 
in Cooper in 181 2, in Lafayette in 181 5, in Carroll and Ray in 18 16, and in Jack- 
son, east of Fort Osage, in 1819. But these were the merest outposts — the 
country was substantially in the hands of the Indians, except a small part along 
the eastern border. All the country north of the Missouri, including part of 
Iowa, was still the hunting grounds of the Sac, Fox and Iowa Indians, and was 
occasionally traversed by Kickapoos. The first three of these tribes occasionally 
crossed south of the river, and at this time had a village south of Fort Osage. 
The country on the south side was still subject to the incursions of the Osages 
and Kaws, who occupied the twenty-four mile strip in Missouri above referred to, 
and all the country south and west from the Platte River on the west to the 
Arkansas River in the south. Througli this country, south and west, the posts 
had been established, which the general agency here was to supply. 

The Fort Osage above referred to was established in 1808 by Captain Clem- 
son, under the name of Fort Clark, which name was afterward changed to Fort 
Osage. It was before the Indian title to southern Missouri was extinguished, on 
a tract six miles square ceded by the Indians for that purpose. Soon after its 
establishment the treaty by which the Indian title to southern Missouri was ex- 
tinguished, was negotiated there by Pierre Chouteau, the elder, of St. Louis. In 
1810 a man named Audrain had settled about a mile and a half below the Fort, 
but he was probably connected in some way with the Fort, as there was no other 
settlements m Jackson county until 181 9, when there were some settlements made 
east of the Indian line. There was no settlement of any consequence in the 
county until after the extinguishment of the Indian title to the twenty-five mile 
strip in 1825, and Jackson county was not organized until 1827, and the early 
settlers had to go to Cyprian Chouteau's trading house, on the Kaw River, as the 
nearest place to trade. The first white man, other than the French traders who 



12 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

became connected with the Kawsmouth settlement, were the attaches of the Kaw 
Indian agenc}'-, estabUshed here in 1825, but these, too, were, with one excep- 
tion, Frenchmen, They consisted of Baronette Vasques, sub-agent, Daniel 
Morgan Boone, a son of the celebrated Daniel Boone, farmer, Clement Lessert, 
interpreter, and Gabriel Phillebert, blacksmith. They established themselves 
near the foot of Gillis street, remained there until 1827, when they were removed 
to the Kaw agency, on the Kaw river, about eight miles above the present town 
of Lawrence. 

The first white man other than these and the French traders to locate on 
ground now embraced within the corporate limits of Kansas City was James 
H. McGee, who settled here in 1828 and whose family was so prominently 
identified with the early development of Kansas City. Several of his sons still 
reside in this city and vicinity. But there was not enough infusion of Americans 
into this French settlement to materially affect its character for a number of years 
afterward, but it continued as it had begun, the center of an extensive fur and 
Indian trade. The first ferry across the Missouri river in the vicinity of Kansas 
City was established at Randolph Bluffs by a Mr. Younger, grandfather of the 
" Young boys " who in connection with the "James boys" have been so noto- 
rious in the west. At what time this ferry was established is not known, but it 
was in operation in 1828. The only means of crossing the river at Kansas City 
at that time consisted of canoes. Two of these lashed together were used from 
the time of the first settlement of Americans in this vicinity, to cross over with 
their grists to a horse mill on the other side of the river, and it continued of 
about this character until 1836. 

The first road from this settlement into the interior appears to have led 
from Chouteau's warehouse up the hill in the vicinity of where Forest avenue now 
is, running southward nearly to Twelfth street and then southwest to about the 
intersection of Broadway and Seventeenth street when it descended the hill and 
bore south to a point where Westport is and thence west into the prairie. When 
this road was first used is unknown, but it was probably developed from a foot 
or horse trail soon after the first settlement opposite Randolph Bluffs. When 
roads came to be made from Independence westward through Westport and 
thence into the Indian country, they were connected with this road at Westport. 
In 1829 and 1830 this was the outlet from the settlement and the ground upon 
which Kansas City is now located, was a dense forest overgrown upon rugged 
hills and deep ravines save where the Frenchmen had built their cabins and 
made small clearings. 

ENTRY OF LAND AT KANSAS. 

In 1828 a land office was opened at Franklin, and the lands in Jackson were 
brought into market. The ground upon which Kansas City stands was located 
as follows : 

Southeast quarter Sec. 5, Tp. 49, James H. McGee, November 14, 1828, 
160 acres. 

East half northeast quarter Sec. 7, Tp. 49, James H. McGee, November 14, 

1828, 80 acres. 

West half northwest quarter Sec. 8, Tp. 49, James H. McGee, November 
14, 1828, 80 acres. 

East half southwest quarter Sec. 5, Tp. 49, James H. McGee, March 3, 

1829, 80 acres. 

Northwest fractional quarter Sec, Tp. 49, Joseph Phillibert, June 18, 1831, 
154.90 acres. 

Southeast fractional quarter Sec. 31, Tp. 50, Louis Bartholet, August 12, 1831, 
49.6 acres. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 13 

South fractional half Sec. 32, Tp. 50, Gabriel Prudhomme, , 183 1, 

271.77 acres. 

West half northwest fractional quarter Sec. 5, Tp. 49, Francis Chouteau, 
December 5, 1831. 

East half northwest fractional quarter Sec. 6, Tp. 49, Gabriel Phillibert, De- 
cember 14, 1831, 170.41 acres. 

Lot I, southwest fractional quarter Sec. 6, Tp. 49, Joseph Phillibert, Decem- 
ber 10, 1832. 

Lot 2, southwest fractional quarter Sec. 6, Tp. 49, Francis Chouteau, 160.66 
acres. 

East half southeast quarter Sec. 6, Tp. 49, Clement Lessert, December 10, 
1 83 1, 80 acres. 

East half northwest quarter Sec. 8, Tp. 48, James H. McGee, December 10, 

1831, 80 acres. 

Northwest fractional quarter Sec. 33, Tp. 50, Louis Roy, April 9, 1832, 53.25 
acres. 

Lot I, northeast fractional quarter Sec. 5, Tp. 49, O. Caldwell and H. Chiles, 
June 2, 1852. 

Lot 2, northeast fractional quarter Sec, 5, Tp. 49, W. B. Evans, June 2, 

1832, 164.62 acres. 

West half lot i, northwest fractional quarter Sec. 5, Tp. 49, W. B. Evans, 
September 22, 1832. 

West half lot 2, northwest fractional quarter. Sec. 5, Tp. 49, Calise Montor- 
deau, October 31, 1832. 

East half lots i and 2, northwest fractional quarter Sec. 5, Tp. 49, O. Cald- 
well and H. Chiles, November 8, 1834, 166.43 a-cres. 

East half lots i and 2, fractional quarter Sec. 6, Tp. 49, Pierre La Libertie, 
October 22, 1832. 

West half lots i and 2, fractional quarter Sec. 6, Tp. 49, Benedict Raux, 
April 10, 1834, 166.46 acres. 

West half southeast quarter Sec. 6, Tp. 49, Wm. Gillis, December 10, 1832, 
80 acres. 

Southwest quarter of southwest quarter Sec. 5, Tp. 49, James H. McGee, 
May 2, 1833, 4° ^^cres. 

West half of northeast quarter Sec. 7., Tp. 49, Joseph Jarboe, November 3, 
1834 80 acres. 

Southeast quarter Sec. 8, Tp. 49, O. Caldwell and H. Chiles, November 8, 
1834, 160 acres. 

Northwest quarter of southwest quarter Sec. 5, Tp. 49, Wm. Bowers, Decem- 
ber 17, 1835, 40 acres. 

Southwest quarter Sec. 33, Tp. 50, Francois Chouteau, August 15, 1836, 160 
acres. 

The General Government gave the State of Missouri an endowment of land 
for a State University, part of which was located within the present borders of 
Kansas City. This land was sold m 1832, and the following named tracts in Kan- 
sas City were purchased as follows : 

East half lot 2, northwest fractional quarter Sec. 4, Tp. 49, James Johnson, 
40 acres. 

East half lot 2, northwest fractional quarter Sec. 4, Tp. 49, Daniel King; 
west half lots i and 2, northwest fractional quarter Sec. 4, Tp. 49, Daniel King, 
162.76 acres. 

Southwest quarter Sec. 4, Tp. 49, James Johnson, 160 acres. 

East half northwest quarter Sec. 9, Tp. 49, Adeliza and Constantia Fowler, 
80 acres 




KANSAS CITY COURT HOUSE. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 15 

Northwest quarter of south\vest quarter Sec. 9, Tp. 49, Joseph Boggs, Sr. , 40 
acres. 

Southwest quarter of northwest quarter Sec. 9, Tp. 49, L. W. Boggs, 40 acres. 

These land entries indicate that at the time they were made there were few in 
the Kawsmouth settlement except the French. And so it continued without change 
from the situation already stated until 1838; in fact, until 1846, though great 
changes were wrought in other parts of the county by settlement, and though 
Independence had become the headquarters of the overland trade with northern 
Mexico, and both it and Westport had grown to be considerable and thriving 
towns. During all these years the Indian trade was the leading interest, and dur- 
ing the larger part of the time the only interest. The French were the dominant 
element, and conducted the trade after their peculiar methods, and gave tone and 
character to social intercourse. 

LIFE AMONG THE FRENCH. 

Of life among the French and in fact in western Missouri at this time, the 
late Rev. Father Donnelly gave an interesting account a few years ago in a pa- 
per contributed to t\\Q Journal. Father Donnelly came to Kansas City in 1845, 
and his mission then embraced eight or ten counties extending as far east as 
Boonville. For twenty years he traveled on horseback over this extent of coun- 
try, stopping often at farm houses. This afforded him an excellent opportunity 
to observe the conditions of life and the situation, customs, habits, manners and 
characters of the people. He noticed that the people were substantially clothed, 
and that they generally manufactured their clothes at home. There was a spin- 
ning wheel and loom in almost every house, and the young women of the family 
all spun and wove, and the piles of blankets, quilts and clothing attested the skill 
and taste and industry of the farmer's daughters. He also observed that when 
occasion demanded it, they could dress richly and elegantly, and always with stud- 
ied propriety and unaffected modesty. The people were healthy, hardy, indus- 
trious and well developed, and he found them not lacking in social culture and 
refinement, notwithstanding their home-spun, and always and everywhere he 
found them courageous, courteous and hospitable. Of the French settlers at the 
Kawsmouth, he says : 

" They were a very sociable people — they had their innocent balls and dances, 
especially in winter. They got up their social assemblies on a novel but simple 
plan of their own. A select committee waited upon some setder and informed 
him that a dancing party would visit his place on a certain evening. The party 
waited upon was reminded that his friends expected that he would have the in- 
dispensable pot dc Bouillon prepared for his guests ; but what was this pot de 
Bouillon ? It was a rich, palatable soup, cooked in a large pot, composed of 
chickens, wild fowl, venison, and sometimes slices of buffalo meat, to all of which 
were added a few handsful of corn meal, with seasoning of small pepper, etc. 
The soup was quaffed from gourds, cups, dishes, etc. 

"Messrs. Joe and Peter Revard were the parish fiddlers — two respectable 
brothers. All went to the ball — men and women, young and old, and all danced. 
It seems to me that some of your readers would like to ask 'did the beaux escort the 
belles to the ball-room, as they do in our polished times?' Not a bit of it. 'How 
then?' Why, the belles went, and returned too, by the side of their own affec- 
tionate mothers. Not only that, but the daughters took their seats in the ball- 
room itself beside their mothers, and at the end of every dance the beau restored 
his partner to the same secure place. This, too, is the proper etiquette among 
the old French themselves in ' La Belle France.' A most respectable gentleman, 
Mr. Northrup, informed me that he attended these parties, that he never wit- 
nessed anywhere such real politeness, such guarded deportment, and such genu- 
ine, amiable, refined enjoyment, as he witnessed among the old French half- 



16 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

breeds of Westport Landing, at their winter balls and reunions. The strictest 
decorum, decency and politeness always prevailed. 

" There was no liquor drank, no boisterous talk, no unbecoming word or act 
seen among them. All were happy ; all danced; all partook of the Bouillon. 
There were no quarrels, no contentions and no scandals among them, nor thefts, 
nor wrongs, nor impudicity, no adulteries, nor injustice, nor slanders, nor deceit. 

"They took one another's word in buying and selling and they never broke 
it — they kept their word because there was honor among them of the christian 
sort." 

They were all Catholics, and of course, brought their religion with them 
when they came to the Kaw's mouth. Father Reau was the first priest, but it is not 
known at what time he came. Their first church was a log structure in the vi- 
cinity of Penn and Eleventh streets, where the first parsonage, a long since 
abandoned and dilapidated log hut stood, until recently. 

This condition of society was largely adopted by others as they came in, and 
was substantially maintained until the Rebellion broke out. In the winter time 
when boats could not run, the Santa Fe trade stopped, and there was no business 
of any consequence to do. The Santa Fe traders were all in and the trappers and 
travelers on the plains and in the mountains came to " the camp " to spend the 
winter. There was nothing to do but enjoy life, and dance and festival succeeded 
each other so rapidly as to occupy the time until spring brought the boats, started 
the trains, and business broke in upon the revels of pleasure. 

The trade of this period was peculiar. It was chiefly an exchange of com- 
modities. The Indian brought his ponies and pelts, and the fruits of the chase ; 
the trapper brought his furs, and both were exchanged, not for money, for 
neither Indian or trapper had use for that, but for supplies— blankets, trinkets, 
groceries, flour, salt and whisky — everything received here was brought by the 
boats, even flour, bacon and corn, which the country now produces so abund- 
antly, were brought from eastern Missouri and Illinois, and merchants had to 
lay in a stock in the fall to last the community, and the trade, until the boats 
brought more in the spring. 

RECOGNITTON BY OTHER PARTIES. 

At an early date, which it is now impossible to fix, the Rocky Mountain 
Fur Company began to debark at the Kawsmouth settlement. It is probable 
that the members and agents of that company were attracted hither by the same 
natural advantages for their trade that had previously brought the American com- 
pany. It was doing the same kind of business and operating in the same field. 
This company was brought into existence in 1822, by Gen. Ashley, of Missouri. 
Its forces made their first expedition up the river in keel boats and across the 
mountains in 1824. In 1830 it took the name of the Rocky Mountain Fur 
Company, with William L. and Milton Sublett and Robert Campbell, of St. 
Louis at its head. These men afterward became property owners in Kansas City 
and were identified with its early history as a town. 

Washington Irving, in Astoria, gives an excellent account of some of their 
early expeditions, and bestows a fitting tribute upon their courage and enterprise. 
Several of their expeditions were debarked at Chouteau's warehouse, and followed 
the road above described, thence westward until about the present town of To- 
peka, they crossed the Kaw River and followed up the Blues, thence to the 
Platte and into the mountains above and north of Cheyenne. There were some 
very important firms and individuals engaged in this trade who also took a de- 
parture from here. Among these were Maj. Dripps and Bent and St. Vraine. 
Father DeSmedt attended one or more of the expeditions, thus departing from 
this point, being entertained while here at the Catholic parsonage by Father 
Reau. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 17 

The advantages of this as a point of departure for the west, southwest and 
northwest, were afterward recognized by Captain Bonneville, who took his depart- 
ure from Fort Osage in 1832, and of whose expeditions such an excellent account 
has been given by Washington Irving. Lieut. Lupton, and Fremont and Beale sub- 
sequently took their departure for their celebrated expeditions from the French 
settlement where Kansas City now is. In 1832, Colonel Ellsworth, commission- 
er of Indian affairs, visited the Indians west of Missouri and Arkansas, and like- 
wise took their departure from this point. Colonel Ellsworth's party consisted of 
a number of persons of great distinction, among whom were J.' H. B. Latrobe, 
architect of the Capitol at Washington, Count Pourtales, of Switzerland, Paul 
Leguest Chouteau, of St. Louis, and Washington Irving. It was this expedition 
that furnished Irving the material for his "Tour on the Prairies," in which he 
gives an excellent account of it. However, there was one incident of this tour 
which he does not mention, and which occurred in this county, so strongly illus- 
trative of the disregard the hardy frontiersman of that time had for rank and posi- 
tion in society, that it is given here. The party had engaged as a camp assistant 
Mr. Harry Younger, of this county, the father of the "Younger Boys." The 
first morning after leaving Chouteau's house, Mr. Irving requested him, at the 
breaking of camp, to bring up the horses, so that they might start on the journey. 
The horses were grazing at a little distance. "x-\ll right," replied Mr. Younger, 
" let's go after them." "But," said Mr. Irving, "we expect you to do that." 
"Well," said Mr. Younger, " why can't some of you help me. There's that 
d — d Count, why can't he go? He does nothing but shoot snowbirds." Mr. 
Younger, with the social equality ideas peculiar to the hardy frontiersman, could 
not readily appreciate the dignity of a Commissioner of Indian affairs, a Swiss 
Count or a celebrated author, nor see why they should not help bring in the horses. 



CHAPTER HI. 
THE GREAT INDIAN TRADE. 

Proposed Removal of the Indians to the West — The Numbers to be Moved — The Removal — The 
New Locations — Effects on Western Trade — Founding of Westport — And Concentration of 
The Trade There. 

Having thus briefly sketched the fur trade and its result in the recognition 
of the advantages of the point at which Kansas City came subsequently to be 
built, and the recognition of the same advantage by the various exploring par- 
ties sent into the unknown west, it comes next in order to state a set of contem- 
poraneous facts which led to a most important increase of the Indian trade of 
this section and its relations to the future city. 

The close of the British war of 181 2, which occurred in 181 5, was followed 
by an immense immigration to the west and northwest during the ten years fol- 
lowing. Mr. Schoolcraft, in his history of the Indian tribes, says that no such 
movement of people into a new country was ever witnessed before in the entire 
history of the world. This brought the whites into contact with the Indians in 
the northwestern territory, in the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and 
Michigan, and in the southwest in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. 
The indigenous tribes still lived in these localities. This pressure upon the In- 
dians and curtailment of their hunting grounds led to constant conflicts and bloody 



18 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



wars, and the necessity of removing the Indians to more distant locahties became 
every year more apparent, and a pohcy of that character gradually shaped itself. 

PROPOSAL TO REMOVE THE INDIANS TO THE WEST. 

In pursuance of this fact, President Monroe, Jan. 27th, 1825, sent a message 
to Congress, formally proposing such a course. At the same time Mr. Calhoun 
then Secretary of War, furnished Congress with a statement of the numbers and 
locations of the Indians proposed to be removed. The whole number was 92 664 
divided as follows: In Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and New York i3'25o' 
which he proposed should be removed to the country north of Illinois and'west 
of Lake Michigan. In Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Mis- 
sissippi 53,625, which, together with the Wyandottes, Shawnees, Senecas, Dela- 
wares, Kaskaskias, Munsas and Eel Rivers of the northwest, 3,082; the Semi- 
noles, in Florida, 5,000, and Delawares, Kickapoos, Shawnees, 'Wea's, Peorias 
lowas, Prankashaws, Quapaws, Osages and Cherokees of Missouri and Arkansas' 
he proposed to locate on the territory west of Missouri and Arkansas, occupied 
at that time by the Osages and Kansas. 

OPPOSITION TO REMOVAL. 

This proposition of removal was severely opposed by the people of all the 
States mentioned. The Legislatures of some of them adopted resolutions strongly 
protesting against it, and memorials were sent to Congress from the people pro- 
testing against it. Most of the Indians were receiving annuities from the Govern- 
ment, and their trade was a valuable item of business which the people desired to 
retain. The wildest stories regarding the sterility and uninhabitableness of the 
country proposed for them were circulated among both whites and Indians and 
the communications of Gen. Clark, of Missouri and others well acquainted' with 
the country, from expeditions they had made through it, were inadequate to quiet 
such misrepresentations. Hence delegations of Indians were sent out to examine 
It for themselves. Among these delegations was one consisting of representatives 
of several tribes m the northwest, in charge of Rev. Isaac McCoy, father of our 
esteemed fellow citizen, John C. McCoy. This party crossed the country to 
Younger's Ferry, on the Missouri River, at Randolph Bluffs in 1828, and pressed 
on into the Indian country west of Missouri and Arkansas. This 'fact is men- 
tioned here because Mr. McCoy several years afterward, in 1831, after the re- 
moval of part of the Indians had taken place, caused the establishment of Shaw- 
nee Mission, eight miles south of this city. Dr. Johnston Lykins, recently de- 
ceased, being placed at its head. 

THE REMOVAL AUTHORIZED. 

The Government and the Indians having become satisfied of the suitable- 
ness of the proposed country. Congress on the 28th of May, 1829, passed an act 
authorizing President Jackson to cause the removal of the Indians and to allot 
the different tribes their portion in the new territory. The Kansas' Indians an 
indigenous tribe, who occupied a large tract of the country in Missouri and a large 
part of the State of Kansas extending from the great Nemaha southward had in 
1825 ceded it to the government, so that a part of the land for the new reservation 
was already in hand. Subsequendy in 1833 the Pawnees were induced to relin- 
quish the title to that part of Nebraska lying between the Piatt and the ^reat Ne- 
maha, for the same purpose. ^ 

THE REMOVAL. 

In pursuance of the authority given by Congress, President Jackson caused 
treaties to be made with the Indians for the relinquishment of their eastern res- 
ervations and removal to the west. These treaties were made as follows • With 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 19 

the Creeks, April 4, 1832; with the Seminoles, May 9, 1832; with the Appa- 
lachicoles, October 11, 1832; with the Chickasaws, October 20, 1832 ; with the 
Kickapoos of Missouri, October 24, 1832; with the Pottawatomies, of Indiana 
October 26, 1830; with the Shawnees and Delawares of Missouri, October 26, 
1832; with the Piankashaws and Peorias, October 26, 1832; with the Weas 
October 29, 1832, and with the Senecas and the Shawnees of Neosho, October 
29, 1632. The removal followed soon after the treaties and by 1836 the Choc- 
taws and Chickasaws, Creeks and part of the Cherokees and Seminoles, the 
Osages, Quapaws, Senecas, Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos, Weas, Peorias 
Piankashaws, Kaskaskias and Ottawas, had located on the new reservations. 
These numbered 37,748, leaving out |iie Creeks. There were yet to come the 
Wyandottes, Chippewas, Pottawatomie's and part of the Ottawas, beside some of 
the southern tribes. 

THE NEW LOCATION. 

When these Indians were all located, which occurred soon after 1836, they 
occupied the territory as follows: Beginning at the Platte River in Nebraska 
the Otoes occupied the country southward to the Little Nemaha; between Little 
and Great Nemaha were half breeds ; south of the Great Nemaha arranced in 
the order here mentioned were the lowas, Sac and Kickapoos, the southern line 
of the territory of the latter intersecting the Missouri River at Fort Leavenworth. 
The Delawares came next with a small river front but extending far back to the 
west. The Wyandottes occupied a triangular tract bounded by the Missouri River 
on one side the Kaw on another and a line running diagonally from the Missouri 
near Fort Leavenworth to the Kaw River at about the same distance as Fort 
Leavenworth from its mouth. The Pottawatomies lived west of the Wyandottes 
and south of the Delawares, their territory extending over to the south side of 
Kaw River. South and east of the Pottawatomies, extending to the Missouri 
State line were the Shawnees, south of the Shiwnees and on the Osa-^e River 
were the Weas, Piankaskaws, Peorias, Kaskaskias and a band of afifihated Sacs 
and Foxes. West of these were the Kaws, and on the south of the Weas were 
the Miamis. Between these tribes and Fort Scott and extending from the State 
line on the east to the Verdigris river on the west, was an unoccupied strip 
reserved for the tribes of New York. South of this strip and lying alonc^ the 
State line to the Indian Territory was Cherokee country, and west of the Chero- 
kees were the Osages. South of them and in the Indian Territory were the Semi- 
noles, Quapaws and an affiliated band of Shawnees and Senecas. West of these 
was the larger territory of the Cherokees, and farther south lay the lands of the 
Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws. 

These allotments of land, it will be seen, occupied the entire country south- 
ward from the Platte River in Nebraska to the southern line of the Indian Terri- 
tory, and extending west to the wild Indians of the plains, thus covering the most 
of Nebraska, Kansas and the Indian Territory. In 1836, 45,000 Indians had 
been concentrated in this territory and there were as many more to come • and 
they did come soon afterward, making a total of 90,000. Besides these lands 
they had been given money for their eastern reservations, the total of which was 
$26,983,068, which, when they came here was being paid to them in annuities, 
This made them immensly richer than they had been in the east, and since their 
trade there was regarded by the people as a valuable thing, it is easy to see that 
after their removal it was far more valuable. 

EFFECT ON WESTERN TRADE. 

The removal of the Indians to this country, from 1832 to 1840, and the 
trade caused by them as they came into the county, did not immediately effect 
the French settlement at the mouth of the Kaw, but it greatly stimulated the 
growth of other places along the border, but none more than the present town of 



20 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Westport. Rev. Isaac McCoy, who has already been mentioned in connection 
with the Indian removal, and the establishment of Shawnee Mission, determined 
to settle in the country, and so entered the land four miles south of the French 
settlement, at the intersection of the roads from that settlement and from Inde- 
pendence into the Indian country. This was in 1831. The following year his 
son, John C. McCoy, who figured so prominently in the early history of Kansas 
City, established a trading house at this place, having the Indians to trade with on 
the one side and the new settlers in Missouri on the other. At that time steam- 
boats were running on the Missouri River, and M. Chouteau of the American Fur 
company was receiving his supplies from St. Louis by them. These goods were, 
of course, landed at his warehouse. Mr. McCoy received his first stock of goods 
in the same way and by the steamer John Hancock, but he caused them to 
be landed in the woods above Chouteau's house, at about the place where Grand 
avenue now reaches the river. This was in 1832, and it was the first landing 
ever made at what afterward became the Kansas City levee. 

WESTPORT FOUNDED. 

In 1833, Mr. McCoy's ideas of his new trading post had become so enlarged 
that he laid off the ground adjacent to it into town lots and called it Westport. 
The new town thus founded grew rapidly, and in a short time Messrs. Lucas & 
Cavanaugh, Capt. John A. Suter, A. G. Boon, Street & Baker, and Alfonda Van 
Biber had established trading houses and opened an extensive trade with the 
neighboring Indians. Mr. McCoy being a surveyor was soon induced to accept 
an engagement from the Government in surveys that were then being made 
south and west of the river, and hence sold his trading house to Wm. M. Chick. 
But these were not all ; many others came in from year to year, and among them 
Messrs. W. G. and G. W. Ewing, who afterward became a most extensive concern. 

At this time the principal landing place for goods was at Blue Mills, eight 
miles below Independence, but the distance made it desirable to the Westport 
merchants that a nearer landing place should be had ; hence some of them fol- 
lowed Mr. McCoy's example and caused their goods to be landed at the French set- 
tlement, first at Chouteau's warehouse, but afterward higher up the river, as the 
sequel will show. This was the second recognition of the trade advantages of 
this point, the settlement of the French here having been the first. But as above 
stated, the occurrence of these events at Westport had little immediate effect upon 
the French settlement. It continued as it had been from the first, the center of 
a most extensive trade conducted with far off Indians by the primitive methods 
of the early pioneers. The trade at Westport soon became larger, but it was of a 
different character. It was a point to which the Indians came personally to trade 
and from whence the government traders with the different tribes were supplied. 
Westport thus became a great center for this near-by Indian trade .for precisely the 
same reasons, and on precisely the same principles that led M. Chouteau to locate 
his general agency for the American Fur company on the ground now occupied 
by Kansas City. It was the most central point that had command of good 
transportation facilities for receiving supphes, and the development of its trade 
confirmed the judgment previously exercised by M. Chouteau as to the natural 
advantages of this angle of the river, as a point of distribution and concentration 
of trade from the country south and west. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 21 

CHAPTER IV. 
THE SANTA FE TRADE. 

Its Origin and Character — Its Real Beginning — The Efect of Steamboats — It Locates at Inde- 
pendence — Changing to Westport — Character and Methods of the Trade — Statistics to 
1838. 

While this extensive French-Indian and fur trade was being conducted at the 
French settlement, and while this near-by Indian trade was being developed and 
conducted at Westport, another interest was being developed, which, in after 
years, gave the third recognition of the advantages of this angle in the river, for 
an extensive distributive trade, and contributed largely to the development of 
Kansas City. This was the once great overland trade with northern Mexico, 
popularly known as the Santa Fe trade. This trade was for many years of great 
magnitude and importance, and attracted much attention in all j)arts of the coun- 
try. The arrival and departure of the caravans were watched for with as much 
interest, and were as regularly and scrupulously chronicled by the press, as are 
the arrivals and departures of steamers at great commercial ports. 

ORIGIN OF THE TRADE. 

This trade seems to have originated with the Indian traders, or rather they 
were the first to discover its possibility ; and others, mostly American frontiers- 
men, inaugurated and conducted it until the Mexicans themselves became inter- 
ested, and formed a considerable portion of those engaged in it. Though popu- 
larly known as " The Santa Fe Trade," it was in reality a trade with all the north- 
ern provinces of Mexico, Santa Fe being merely the port of entry from the United 
States. 

These northern provinces were of very early settlement. Dr. Gregg, who 
resided in the country for nine years, and had unusual facilities for historical and 
statistical research, informs us in his "Commerce of the Prairies," that while the 
settlements so far north as New Mexico are of traditional and doubtful date, the 
country was certainly known and inhabited by Spaniards as early as 1550. He 
found historical statements, though of questionable authenticity, that the country 
even so far north as Santa Fe, was penetrated and conquered soon after the cap- 
ture of the City of Mexico by Cortez, and he found a well authenticated record 
of colonization in the valley of the Rio del Norte, near Santa Fe, or on that 
ground, as early as 1595. 

Whatever may have been the date of the first settlement. New Mexico, Chi- 
huahua and California were defined provinces, settled and populous at the begin- 
ning of the present century. The interior. New Mexico, Chihuahua, Durango, 
Zacaticas and Sonora, were then receiving their supplies of foreign merchandise 
from the sea coast at Mazatlan, Matamoras, Vera Cruz, Tampico and Guaymas. 
About this time, the courriers des bois in the employ of the fur companies and In- 
dian traders, pushed westward by the advance of civilization, penetrated far 
beyond the wooded country from whence they took their name, and traversing 
the illimitable plains of the West, discovered these settlements, and on their re- 
turn, reported the fact, and their isolated situation. The prospect of a rich trade 
with an isolated people, who were then nearer the frontiers of the United States 
than the existing sources of supply, was too tempting to the adventurous and 
commercial spirit of the Indian traders and frontiersmen, not to be improved. 

The first attempt to reach this country on a trading expedition is stated by 



22 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Capt. Pike, in his narrative of his explorations in search of the head-waters of Red 
River, to have been in 1804, when a merchant of Kaskaskia, named Morrison, 
sent out a French Creole by the name of La Land with a pack of goods on his 
back, with instructions to traverse the Platte Valley, and if possible penetrate to 
Santa Fe. The expedition was entirely successful, and La Land reached Santa 
Fe in safety, but was so well pleased with his success and the county that he 
never returned, but took up his residence among the Mexicans, and went into 
business on his employer's capital. Capt. Pike also speaks of a James Pursley 
who, after wandering for some time, perhaps years, in the unexplored regions of 
the Northwest fell in with some Indians on the Platte River near the mountains, 
who told him of New Mexico, and he with a party of the Indians went down 
to Santa Fe in 1805. 

In 1806 Capt. Pike, afterward General Pike, killed at the victory of York, 
in Upper Canada, in 1813, was sent to explore the country on Upper Red River, 
and if possible discover the sources of that stream. Capt. Pike passed around 
the head of Red River, and crossed the Rio del Norte, which he mistook for the 
Red River. Believing himself in the territory of the United States, he went into 
winter quarters and built a small fortress for the protection of his little party 
until spring, when he proposed to descend the river to Natchitoches. However, 
he was in Mexican territory, and not over eighty miles from Sante Fe ; hence the 
Mexicans soon became aware of his presence, and the governor at Santa Fe sent a 
party to bring him in. The commandant of this party assured him that the Gov- 
ernor had heard of his presence and his objects, and, learning that he had missed 
his way, had sent an escort to guide him, and animals to convey his men to a 
navigable point on the Red River, and would be pleased to see him at Santa Fe, 
which might be taken in on the way. Trusting to the friendship of the Mexicans, 
Capt. Pike went with them ; but no sooner had he reached Santa Fe than a dif- 
ferent line of treatment was adopted. He was sent with an escort to the com- 
mandant-general at Chihuahua, where his papers were seized and he and his men 
sent under escort to the United States by the way of San Antonio de Bexar. 

THE FIRST EXPEDITIONS. 

On his return to the United States he published a description of the northern 
provinces of Mexico and their situation, which proved of the most exciting char- 
acter. Soon afterward, in 18 12, an expedition was fitted out by some parties 
about Franklin, in Howard county, opposite Boonville. From Dr. Gregg's 
account it appears that this party, like many that followed in the early years of 
the trade, conveyed their goods on pack animals. The names of the party are 
not all known, but among them were Messrs. McKnight, Beard and Chambers. 
They followed Capt. Pike's route as near as possible, and reached Santa Fe in 
safety, but here they received treatment which they were little expecting, and for 
which they were little prepared. Previous to the Declaration of Independence 
by Hidalgo, in 1810, all trade with Mexico was prohibited, except by permission 
granted by Spain. These adventurous men, relying upon that declaration believ- 
ed all restrictions removed until they reached Santa Fe, when they learned to 
their sorrow that Hidalgo had been captured and executed, and that the royalists, 
with all their restrictions on trade, were again in power. The party were imme- 
diately arrested as spies and sent to Chihuahua, where they were imprisoned for 
nine years. Their goods were all confiscated. Two of the party escaped in 
1821, and made their way back to the United States, and the next year the repub- 
lican forces under Iturbide having gained the ascendant, the others were all re- 
leased. 

The removal of the restrictions on trade incident to the success of Iturbide 
encouraged others to launch into it, and in 182 1 a Mr. Gillam, who had a trading 
house at the mouth of the Verdigris River, sent through a small party in perfect 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 23 

safety. The same year Captain Beckwith, with four companions from the vicinity 
of FrankUn, went out to trade with the Indians, but faUing in with a party of 
Mexican rangers, and learning from them of the removal of the restrictions on 
trade, they pushed their way through to Santa Fe, arriving also in 182 1. 

REAL BEGINNING OF THE TRADE. 

The profits of those early trading parties were so great, and their reports so 
flattering and exciting, that the next year, 1822, a large number of parties, with 
large amounts of merchandise, went out. The isolated situation of the northern 
provinces at the time caused prices of all imported merchandise to range very 
high. Common calico sold as high as two and three dollars per vaj-a, the Spanish 
yard of thirty-three inches, and everything else in proportion. In 1822 Col. 
Cooper and sons, from the vicinity of Franklin, Captain Beckwith and others, 
conducted expeditions across the unexplored prairies with the greatest hardships 
and with much suffering. The trade may be said to have been fairly inaugurated 
that year, and the route so far determined that substantially the same trail was 
followed for many subsequent years. 

STEAMBOATS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE TRADE. 

Steamboats had then just begun to run on the Missouri River. The first 
boat to arrive at St. Louis was the General Pike, August 2d, 181 7. The first 
boat on the Missouri River was the " Independence," which ascended the stream 
in 18 1 9, probably as far as Council Bluffs. She passed Franklin May 28, where 
a dinner was given to the officers, but we have no record of her dates at points 
higher up. In August and September of the same year the steamers " Western 
Engineer," "Expedition" and " R. M. Johnson," ascended the stream with 
Major Long's scientific party, bound for the Yellowstone. 

The Missouri River trade appears to have been attractive to steam-boatmen, 
but the difficulties of navigation appear to have been quite a restriction. How- 
ever, this new method of water transportation soon had its effect on the Santa Fe 
trade, as the traders were only too ready to avail themselves of it to escape the 
longer transit overland. As their stocks began to be enlarged and their number 
increased, the boats became valuable in delivering them at points higher up than 
Franklin. 

IT LOCATES AT INDEPENDENCE. 

The points that at first competed for this trade at this angle of the river were 
Blue Mills, Fort Osage and Independence. Blue Mills, which was situated about 
six miles below Independence, soon became the favorite landing point, and the 
exchange between wagons and boats settled there and defied all efforts to remove 
it. Independence, being the county seat, was the larger and more important 
place, and became the American headquarters of the trade and the outfitting point 
as early as 1832. It continued so until the trade was temporarily suppressed in 
1843. Independence preferred Wayne City as a landing point, and made great 
efforts to secure its adoption. . The river front was paved with stone ; still, how- 
ever, the landing point continued to be at Blue Mills, and the headquarters and 
outfitting at Independence, which, under the rapidly growing trade, experienced 
an era of rapid development and great prosperity. 

ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE. 

However, Independence was not to be allowed to enjoy a monopoly of the 
trade for any great length of time. The Mexican traders finding accommodations 
for themselves at Westport, so much nearer the prairies, where they could herd 
their teams while awaiting the arrival of their goods at Blue Mills, soon took ad- 
vantage of that fact. The large numbers of them that stopped there, and the 




iipwii'-^ 'wm^mmm, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 25 

trade they naturally caused, added an additional element to the prosperity of 
Westport, and there began to be some outfitting done there, but in a smaller way 
than at Independence. Among the first to avail themselves of the advantages 
afforded by Westport were such of the old Indian traders as had become engaged 
in the Mexican trade. Understanding the river and the country, as well as the 
methods of conducting a frontier trade, better than others engaged in it, they 
were quick to perceive the advantages to this new trade of a landing nearer to 
their new headquarters than that at Blue Mills. Knowing the character of the 
landing at Chouteau's warehouse, and perceiving the advantage of the superior 
pasturage for their teams on the prairies, and the saving of the eighteen miles 
haul over wooded roads, they began to land their goods at Chouteau's warehouse. 
As early as 1834, Messrs. Bent and St. Vrain landed a cargo of goods at this 
point for the Mexican trade, and for their Indian posts on the plains. Others 
followed their example, and then a tendency to make headquarters at Westport 
and use Chouteau's warehouse as a landing place arose and gradually increased, 
addmg the Santa Fe business to that of the Indian and fur trade already done at 
this place and Westport. It was this tendency more than anything else that 
suggested the idea of a town where Kansas City now is, and led to the organiza- 
tion of a company for that purpose in 1838, at which time the trade had assumed 
very large proportions. 

CHARACTER AND METHODS OF THE TRADE. 

In the earlier years of this great trade, pack animals were largely used for 
conveyance. The first expeditions, prior to 1822, appear to have been conducted 
on foot with packs on the backs of the traders, after the fashion of a peddler. In 
1822 and 1823, pack animals were mosdy used, and in 1824 and 1825, the cara- 
vans were composed partly of pack animals and partly of wagons. From 1826 
on, only wagons were used. For many years no party started from the border 
strong enough to feel it safe to attempt the passage alone, hence they adopted the 
custom of rendezvousing at Council Grove, in what is now the State of Kansas. 
Here they united in such numbers as to feel safe in attempting the passage, and 
organized, electing a captain and such minor officers as they deemed requisite. 

The men engaged in the trade were of the most hardy and courageous class ; 
and it was well, for their life on the plains was one of peculiar dangers and hard- 
ships. From Council Grove to within a few miles of Santa Fe, they were beset 
with hostile savages. The caravans marched four wagons abreast with guards all 
round, and were so corralled at night as to form a barricade, which was \ve\\ 
guarded. Affrays with the Indians were of frequent occurrence, and many ol the 
earlier parties lost some of their men, and some were nearly annihilated. Some 
were compelled to cac/ie their goods, that is, bury them in the earth to keep them 
from falling into the hands of the Indians, and escaped themselves only with the 
utmost hardships and suffering, Others again were lost for days on the prairie, 
without water, and nearly famished. One instance is recorded by Dr. Gregg of 
a party that were saved only by finding a buffalo fresh from a stream to them un- 
discovered, with stomach full of water, which, after killing the animal, they eagerly 
drank, and esteemed it the most delicious draught they had ever tasted. Although 
opening and developing a trade of such vast importance to the United States, 
and although constantly beset with hostile savages, the government furnished but 
three military escorts, and these only so far as to the American line, then the Ar- 
kansas River. These escorts were in 1829, 1834 and 1843. 

STATISTICS. 

Dr. Gregg, in his "Commerce of the Prairies," gives the statistics of this 
trade from the beginning down to 1843, fi"om which the following table is taken, 
to show its growth to the close of the year 1837 and its magnitude at that time : 



26 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



Years. 



1822 
1823 
1824 
1825 
1826 
1827 
1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 
1832 

1833 
1834 
1835 
1836 

1837 



Amount 


No. 


No. Men. 


No. Pro- 


Taken to 


Merchandise. 


Wagons. 


prietors. 


Chihuahua 


$ I5-000 


, , 


70 


60 


$ 


12,000 




50 


30 




35.000 


26 


100 


80 


3,000 


65.000 


37 


130 


90 


5,000 


90,000 


60 


100 


70 


7,OGO 


85,000 


55 


90 


50 


8,000 


150,000 


100 


200 


80 


20,000 


60,000 


30 


50 


20 


8,000 


120,000 


70 


140 


60 


20,000 


150,000 


130 


320 


80 


80,000 


140,000 


70 


150 


40 


50,000 


180,000 


105 


185 


60 


80,000 


150,000 


80 


160 


50 


70,000 


140,000 


75 


140 


40 


70,000 


130,000 


70 


135 


35 


60,000 


150,000 


80 


160 


35 


80,000 



Of the fur and Indians conducted from this center, no statistics were ever 
preserved; but at the close of 1837, when the Santa Fe trade had reached such 
proportions as are above given, these others were almost, if not quite, as promi- 
nent. 




KANSAS CITY UNION DEPOT. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 27 

CHAPTER V. 
THE FOUNDING OF KANSAS CITY. 

The Siiuatioii in i8j8 — The First Ferry — The Santa Fe and Indian Trade Tend to Kansas 
City — Purchase of the Prudhomme Estate for a Town Site — The Surz'ey and Sale of iSjg — 
Troubles of the Company Petard the Town — What Was Thought of It — Its Early Trade — 
A Description of Early Kansas City — Efforts to Divert the Santa Fe Trade — Its Suppression 
in 184J — Statistics — Situation in 184J — The Great Flood of 1844 — The Events of 184J to 
1846 — The Mexican War. 

Having now briefly sketched the history of the three principal elements that 
entered into the commercial foundation of Kansas City, it comes next in order 
to set down the circumstances under which the town originated, the manner in 
which it was founded, and the course of events entering into its development. 

THE SITUATION IN 1838. 

At the time to which each of the preceding chapters brought this record, to 
1838, the entire country west of the Missouri River and the State line of Mis- 
souri and Arkansas was in the possession of the Indians. The tribes on these 
borders were all in receipt of large annuities from the Government which gave 
rise to a rich and profitable trade with them. There was in existence a trade of 
about equal volume between this western border and southern Mexico, crossing 
the intervening Indian country, and there was still in existence a large volume of 
the old French, Indian and Fur trade. These three elements of trade gathered 
at this angle of the river as at a focus, for the reason already stated, that this was 
the nearest point toward the scene of each of them that could be reached by 
water transportation. To stop lower down the river, or advance higher, were 
alike detrimental. 

At that time Missouri was still quite a sparsely settled State. The western 
half of it had been settled in part for not exceeding twenty years, and the tide 
of immigration into it, though considered large in these times, was trifling when 
compared with the immense movements of population since witnessed into other 
States. What is called the "Platte Purchase," that is, the territory embraced in 
Platte, Buchanan, Andrew, Holt, Nodaway and Atchison counties, had been 
added to the State in 1836, the State line prior to that time having run directly 
north from the mouth of the Kaw River. This country was not opened for set- 
tlement until 1837, and though its settlement was rapid for those days, it was 
still an unorganized country. 

THE FIRST FERRY. 

The settlement of this Platte purchase had an important effect upon the 
future city. Up to that time there had been no ferry across the river here, other 
than the canoes heretofore referred to, but with the opening of this new country 
there was a spasmodic movement into it from the south side of the river. To 
accommodate this movement Peter Roy, a son of Louis Roy, who settled at the 
foot of Grand avenue during 1826, estabUshed a flat-boat ferry, and in order to 
provide better access to it than the old road heretofore mentioned, he cut a new 
road through the woods from about where Walnut street crosses Fifteenth street 
down by the present junction of Main and Delaware streets, and thence down a 
deep ravine which followed down Delaware street to Sixth, thence across by the 
corner of Main and Fifth streets, diagonally across the Public Square and thence 
to the river a little east of the present line of Grand avenue from Third street 



28 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

down. This road afterward became a factor in the concentration of the Indian 
and Santa Fe trade at this place. The ferry, thus estabhshed by Mr. Roy, was 
conducted by him but a short time when he sold it to James H. McGee, who 
then lived on a farm south of Sixteenth street. McGee sold the ferry in less than 
a year to Rev. Isaac McCoy, of whom mention has already been made, who con- 
ducted it until 1843, when he sold it to his son, John C. McCoy. Mr. McCoy 
subsequently sold a half interest in it to John Campbell, and in 1854 the other 
half to Messrs. Northrup and Chick. 

THE SANTA FE AND INDIAN TRADES TEND TO KANSAS CITY. 

At this time, 1837 and 1838, many of the Santa Fe traders had adopted the 
custom heretofore mentioned of stopping at Westport to await the arrival of their 
goods at Blue Mills. To them, and to the Indian traders at Westport, a new land- 
ing only four miles distant, at the French Settlement, offered great advantages 
over one eighteen miles distant, at ^lue Mills. Hence, with the facilities afforded 
by the new road cut by Petite Roy, there arose a strong tendency to receive their 
goods at this point. It then became manifest that the best landing point was 
higher up than Chouteau's house, on the property belonging to the estate of (Gabriel 
Prudhomme, who died about this time. This point was at the foot of Grand 
avenue, Walnut, Main, and Delaware streets, and the new road gave access to 
this new locality. Here there was a natural rock landing superior, by nature, to 
those of Blue Mills and Wayne City, notwithstanding all the improvements that 
had been made upon them. It was this fact that determined the site of Kansas 
City, by determining the exact spot of transfer between boats and wagons of these 
two great branches of trade. 

PURCHASE OF THE PRUDHOMME ESTATE. 

The Prudhomme estate, upon which existed this natural landing, is de- 
scribed as the south fractional half of section thirty, township fifty, and includes 
the land lying between Broadway and Troost avenue, from the river back to the 
township line, which runs along Independence avenue. 

On the 30th of October, 1837, Prosper Mercier and wife, his wife being a 
daughter of Gabriel Prudhomme, and one of the heirs of the estate, petitioned the 
Circuit Court of Jackson county for an allotment of dower to Prudhomme's 
widow, and a division of the land among the heirs. On the 9th of December, 
the court made an order appointing Wm. M. Chick, Peter Booth and Samuel 
Johnson commissioners to make such allotment of dower and division of the land 
among the heirs. On the 3d of April, 1838, these commissioners reported to the 
court that after viewing the land they were satisfied that such allotment of dower 
and division of land could not be made without great injustice to the parties. • 
On the next day, April 4th, the court made an order for the sale of the land, 
and releasing from the commission Messrs. Chick and Johnson at their request, 
appointed James P. Davenport and Elliott Johnson in their stead. These com- 
missioners were instructed by the court to advertise the sale of the land for six 
weeks prior to day of sale by notice in a paper in Liberty, Clay county, and one 
in St. Louis, and by hand bills, and to make the sale on twelve months' credit. 
They made the sale July 7th, 1838, and reported it to the court on the loth of 
August. At this sale James H. McGee, who, on the 21st of August, 1837, had 
been appointed guardian of the minor heirs, acted as crier. In fact, it appears 
that he had conducted the whole business, and that the advertising had been in- 
adequately done. At the sale there were present only Mr. McGee, Abraham 
Fonda and a Mr. Clark, who came with him ; and William Gillis and Michael 
Auther besides, perhaps, some few others who had dropped in merely as specta- 
tors. Fonda was bidding and offering such low prices that Gillis and Auther 
asked for time to consult, with a view to bidding. They retired for this purpose, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 29 

and while absent the sale was made to Fonda for $i, 800. A remonstrance 
against this sale was filed with the court on the 8th of August, two days before 
the filing of the report of the sale. It was set up that McGee, Fonda and Clark 
were interested together in the purchase of the land, and that the sale had been 
conducted fraudulently in not allowing time for bidders (Gillis and Auther) to 
make bids. A new sale was asked for, and on the nth of October, the court 
made an order setting aside the sale and directing that another be made, the ad- 
vertising to be as before, and the sheriff of Jackson county, to act as crier. 
This sale was made November 14, 1838, for $4,220. 

At the time these eVents were transpiring, there was much discussion among 
certain men, who had observed the tendency of the Santa Fe and Indian trade to 
effect transfers at this point, concerning the feasibility of building a town here. 
In fact, it was supposed that McGee, Clark and Fonda were interested together, 
and had that in view in the first sale. Wm. L. Sublett, of St. Louis, who had 
become well acquainted with the place during the operations with the Rocky 
Mountain Fur Company regarded it as a feasible enterprise, and wanted to take 
an interest in such a movement. This idea took shape pending the advertising 
for the several sales, and a company was formed for the purpose. 

This company consisted of Wm. L. Sublett, Moses G. Wilson John C. Mc- 
Coy, Wm. Gillis, Fry P. McGee, Abraham Fonda, Wm. M. Chick, Oliver Cald- 
well, Geo. W. Tate, Jacob Ragan, Wm. Collins, James Smart, Samuel C. 
Owens, and Russell Hicks. The last two gentlemen lived in Independence, the 
first being the leading merchant, and the other the leading lawyer of the county. 
Independence and Westport were jealous of the enterprise, foreseeing the danger 
of its absorbing the trade of the Indians from the one, and the Santa Fe trade 
from the other. Hence, Hicks and Owens were taken into the company with a 
view of placating the jealousy of Independence. Messrs. McCoy and Chick 
were of Westport, and were prominent there, but they went into the enterprise 
on its merits. The addition of the two Independence gentlemen was no advan- 
tage to the company, but rather the reverse. 

The sale was set for November 14, 1838, at which time it occurred, the sum 
realized at this time being four thousand two hundred and twenty dollars, and the 
company bought it, and proceeded at once to lay out the town, which they called 
Kansas. 

THE SURVEY AND SALE OF 1839. 

Mr. McCoy was the surveyor of the party, but being engaged at that time 
in government surveys, he could not attend to laying off the town. According- 
ly, he drew up a plat for about fifteen acres of it, and employed W. S. Donahue 
to make the survey. This survey included that part of the city bounded by 
Wyandotte street and Grand avenue, and extending from the river back to Sec- 
ond street. From the old records of the company, now in the hands of John 
Campbell, Esq. , of this city, it is learned that a sale of lots was had in May, 
1837, at which lots were sold as follows : 

Lot I, to W. B. Evans $155 oo 

Lot 3, to J. H. McGee 70 00 

Lot 5, to F. Kleber 82 00 

Lot 10, to J. C. McCoy 200 00 

Lot 12, to J. Ragan 151 00 

Lot 26, to J. Ragan 32 00 

Lot 81, to J. Ragan 62 00 

Lot 24, to J. C. McCoy 30. 00 

Lot 48, to W. B. Evans 144 80 

$926 80 



30 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

These sales were made on one year's time, at ten per cent, interest; and the 
company, anxious to give the town a start, built a log warehouse for the accom- 
modation of the Santa Fe and Indian trade, which was kept by W. B Evans. 

TROUBLES OF THE COMPANY RETAREJED THE TOWN. 

But just at this point the company met with difficulties which checked this 
enterprise and held it in statu quo for eight years. The first of these was that 
the law required that every member of the company should sign and acknowl- 
ed the plat, and that it should be filed for record with the county clerk before 
the company could give a title to lots. It had been arranged that this should be 
done at a meeting to be held on the morning of the sale of lots, but it so happened that 
less than a majority of the company attended the meeting ; hence, after the sale 
titles could not be given, but the company got over this difficulty by giving title 
bonds to purchasers. It was then observed also that two of the commissioners ap- 
pointed to sell the estate, Peter Booth and Elliott Johnson, had died before the sale 
of the land, leaving aminority of the commissioners to do the business. The legality 
of this sale was called into question on this account, and this question was not 
settled until in 1846. The method employed by the company to procure a set- 
tlement of the question was unique. It was a question for judicial decision, and 
to get it into the courts for that purpose required that a case should be made up. 
To do this was the trouble, but the company finally decided to dispute the 
legality of the sale thus made by one of the commissioners, refuse to pay him 
the purchase money, and compelled him to sue for it. This they did ; the suit was 
brought and the members of the company appeared as defendents in a case they 
really much desired to have decided against them. The decision was finally 
made in 1846, the legality of the action of the commissioners was confirmed 
and executions were made against the members of the company for the purchase 
money. It is needless to say that these executions were cheerfully paid. In the 
situation in which it was placed pending the litigation, the company could not, 
of course, sell lots nor make titles to those already sold nor even collect from the 
purchasers. However those who had bought lots made some improvements on 
them and a few trading houses were opened. Among these early trading houses 
Messrs. Cohn & Block appear to have been the first to offer a stock of general 
merchandise. .This was in 1839, and about the same time A. B. Canville, 
Anthony Richter and Thos. A. Smart, opened houses. The latter being what 
was then called a grocery. 

WHAT WAS THOUGHT OF THE TOWN. 

There were many different opinions about the prospects for the new town 
prior to the difficulties just mentioned. Independence and Westport nick-named 
it " Westport Landing " in derision, and, owing to its non-development, for so 
many years, it came to be generally known by this name. However, there were 
others who regarded it differently. Senator Benton, than whom none better knew 
the controlling facts of trade, while visiting Randolph, nearly opposite three miles 
below the city at this time, pointed to it and remarked that it was destined to 
become the greatest commercial center west of St. Louis. Senator Benton after- 
ward repeated this prophecy in Kansas City. 

EARLY TRADE. 

Some trade immediately sprung up at the trading houses, and concerning its 
character, Spalding's Annals contains the following : 

" The great portion of this early trade of the city was a trade similar to that 
of all new towns, and was what our Yankee neighbors would consider, in their 
vernacular, as a "truck and dicker trade," mainly done with the neighboring 
Indians, and employees of the mountain traders and freighters, and Mackinaw 
boatmen, etc., etc. Ponies, pelts, furs, trinkets and annuity moneys, were receiv- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 31 

ed by early traders in exchange for powder ,lead, tobacco, sugar, coffee, candies, 
beads, and as there was at that time no temperance orders among these buyers 
and sellers, a little bad whisky was also sold by ' the large and small.' We are 
happy to announce, however, that in this border ruffian era, a reform has taken 
place in the sale and use of this Marge and small' commodity. In 1839 and 
1840, the Indian tribes trading at Kansas City were the Delawares, Munsas, Stock- 
bridges, Shawnees, Kansas (or Kaws), Kickapoos, Osages, Pottawatomies, Weas, 
Peorias. In addition to articles already enumerated, these Indians bought of our 
traders, calicoes, blankets, very many saddles, bridles and ribbons; and rings, 
costing ten cents in St. Louis, were frequently sold to them for five and six dol- 
lars ; and large profits were made on every thing. As a general thing, the Indians 
paid cash for goods ; and when they had no money they would freely pledge any- 
thing in their possession, such as ponies, silver arm-bands, ear ornaments, etc. 
Bacon was sold to them as high as from thirty to forty cents per pound ; and salt 
for fifteen and twenty cents per tin cup full. As early as 1840 it was not uncom- 
mon, on the arrival of Mackinaw boats, to see as many as three or four hundred 
men on the levee at one time, and all of them buying, more or less from our 
traders" 

A DESCRIPTION OF EARLY KANSAS CITY. 

In a paper read before the Old Settlers' Association in January, 1872, John 
C. McCoy thus describes the appearance of the place at that time : 

"A clearing, or old field, of a few acres, lying on the high ridge between 
Main and Wyandotte and Second and Fifth streets, made and abandoned by a 
mountain trapper, a few old girdled dead trees standing in the field, surrounded 
by a dilapidated rail fence ; all around on all sides a dense forest, the ground 
covered with impenetrable underbrush and fallen timber, and deep, impassable 
gorges; a narrow, crooked roadway winding from Twelfth and Walnut streets 
along down on the west side of the deep ravine toward the river, across the 
public square, to the river at the foot of Grand avenue ; a narrow, difficult path, 
barely wide enough for a single horseman, running up and down the river under 
the bluffs, winding its crooked way around fallen timber and deep ravines ; an 
old log house on the river bank, occupied by a lank, cadaverous specimen of 
humanity named Ellis, with one blind eye and the other on a sharp lookout for stray 
horses, straggling Indians and squatters with whom to swap a tin cup of whisky 
for a coon skin; another old dilapidated log cabin on Jthe point below the Pacific de- 
pot; two or three small dvvelings and cabins in the Kaw bottom, now called West 
Kansas, which were houses of French mountain trappers, engaged principally in 
raising young half breeds. The rest of the surroundings were the still solitude of 
the native forest, broken only by the snort of the startled deer, the bark of the 
squirrel, the howl of the wolf, the settler's cow bell, and mayhap the distant bay- 
ing of the hunter's dog or the sharp report of his rifle." 

The man Ellis mentioned in the above description of Kansas City, by Mr. 
McCoy, .jwas, at the time he speaks of, living in the house built originally by 
Louis Uneau, at the foot of Main street, and was the first Justice of the Peace 
ever officiating at Kansas City. 

The difficulties surrounding the Kansas Town Company prevented town de- 
velopment and retarded the tendency of trade to concentrate here. Still, however, 
the Indian trade continued to flourish at both Westport and Kansas City, and the 
Santa Fe trade at Independence until 1843, when it was temporarily suppressed 
by order of General Santa Anna. 

EFFECT TO DIVERT THE MEXICAN TRADE FROM MISSOURI. 

Two efforts were made to divert this trade from the Missouri frontier, but 
without success, because of the superior advantages afforded by this point. In 
1839, Dr. Josiah Gregg, after nine years' experience with this route, and a pretty 



32 HISTORV OF KANSAS CITV. 

thorough acquaintance with the plains and with Northern Mexico, undertook to 
open a river route from Van Buren on the Arkansas River. Finding that a good 
point for steamboats to ascend to, considerably nearer Santa Fe, and with a sea- 
son nearly a month earlier in spring and a month later in the fall, he thought it 
much more desirable, and undertook to conduct an expedition from that point 
and open a new route. He was successful in getting through with less hardships 
than the early explorers had experienced on the route from Missouri, but he found 
that the old route had some advantages that the new one could not equal, and no 
further attempt was made. The trade from the Missouri border had been ex- 
tended to Chihuahua, and so large a part of the imports of that place had come 
to be received from that source via Santa Fe, that in 1840 the Mexican govern- 
ment undertook to open a new and shorter route from that country to the United 
States. Some point on Red River, at the American border, was selected, and 
the party, with a concession of special advantages, as to imposts, duties, etc., 
started from Chihuahua April 3, 1839. It succeeded in getting through to Red 
River that year, and the next year, 1840, took back a large amount of goods. 
This expedition, however, failed to discover any advantage in the new route, 
though much nearer for Chihuahua than the old route from Missouri, and no fur- 
ther effort was ever made to develop it. These two attempts to divert the trade 
from the Missouri border were of importance in this connection, as showing the 
superior command of the country, even to Chihuahua, held by the locality of 
Kansas City. 

ITS SUPPRESSION IN 1 843. 

On the 7th of August, 1843, Santa Anna, then President of Mexico, issued 
a decree closing the ports of Taos, in New Mexico, and Paso del Norte and 
Presido del Norte, in Chihuahua. As these were the only ports at which goods 
were passed through the custom-house into northern Mexico, it nearly suppressed 
the trade. This was done in consequence of the sympathy and co-operation of 
Americans with the people of Texas, who, although they had previously, in 1838, 
achieved their independence, were still subject to the hostilities of Mexico, and 
were practically in a state of war. Prior to this decree, the hostile attitude of 
Texas and Mexico toward each other had made the trade peculiarly hazardous. 
Two expeditions had been fitted out in Texas to raid it, the Texans not regarding 
the fact that a large part of those engaged in it were citizens of the United States 
— a friendly power. Santa Anna's decree was issued with equal injustice to the 
large number of his own subjects who were engaged in it, and with no less injus- 
tice to the large sections of his country which were accommodated by it. This 
decree so far caused the abandonment of the trade that, although another decree 
was issued March ii, 1844, raising the embargo, not over ninety wagons, with 
not over two hundred men and $200,000 worth of goods crossed the plains to 
Santa Fe in 1844. The Mexican war coming on soon afterward further em- 
barrassed and restricted it until the close of that struggle. 

We are indebted to Dr. Gregg's admirable " History of the Commej^ce of the 
Prairies," for the following statistics of the trade prior to its suppression in 1843 •* 

Amount No. No. No. Taken to 

Years. Merchandise. Wagons. Men. Proprs. Chihuahua. 

1838 90,000 50 100 20 40,000 

1839 250,000 130 250 40 100,000 

1840 50,000 30 60 35 10,000 

1841 150,000 60 100 12 80,000 

1842 160,000 70 120 15 90,000 

.1843 4.50,000 230 350 30 300,000 

=■" Although this table is given by Dr. Gregg as representing the entire trade, we are inclined to think it is 
far short of the actual aggregates. The year 18-10, for instance, appears to include only the Chihuahua ex- 
pedition from Red River. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 33 

THE SITUATION IN 1843. 

At the time the Mexican trade was temporarily su])pressed by order of Gen. 
Santa Anna iu 1843, Blue Mills was the principal landing point for Independence, 
the effort to divert it to Wayne City having proved ineffectual. Independence 
enjoyed a monopoly of the outfitting business. Westport had attained much im- 
portance as an Indian trading post and was rapidly becoming the headquarters for 
the Mexican traders, who stopped there to graze their teams on the prairies, and 
await the arrival of their goods at Blue Mills ; Liberty had grown to be quite a 
town; a town had been established at Randolph Bluffs, and at this time contained 
one or more quite respectable mercantile houses, and a number of residences, and 
had macadamized one short street. The town of Barry, which came into exis- 
tence prior to the opening of the Platte purchase to settlement, had became quite 
an important place, as had the town of Weston. A town had been started at 
Parkville, an Indian trading post, and was doing a large trade with the new 
settlers in the adjacent country and with the Indians across the river. Parkville 
then contained several trading houses. At this time Kansas City was much 
smaller than any of these places, and was not perceptibly growing, owing to the 
inability of the Town Company to make titles to ground. Kansas City then con- 
tained three warehouses,.^hose of the Town Company, Francis Chouteau, or rather 
the American Fur Company, and that of W. G. and G. W. Ewing, of Westport, 
two or three small trading houses and a few log cabins, mostly occupied by 
Frenchmen. It was then known only as Westport Landing, but as a landing 
place for Westport was beginning to attract some attention from Mexican traders, 
who saw the advantage of receiving their goods at this place rather than at Blue 
Mills. Still, however, it continued the headquarters of the fur and Indian traders 
established by the old St. Louis guild of French traders, and conducted by the 
American Company or their successors. This trade was then, as it had been 
from the first, distributive, and though it made much less local show, and was 
probably less in volume than the Indian trade done at Westport, it covered a 
much greater area of country. 

In 1840 W. G. and G. W. Ewing, already referred to as having become 
prominent Indian traders, at Westport, in about 1836, determined to build them- 
selves a warehouse at Kansas City. They had received goods at Blue Mills, and 
at Chouteau's Warehouse just below Kansas City, but their trade had become so 
large that they desired to avoid this warehouse tax and so built a warehouse as 
above stated. 

In June, 1842, Gen. John C. Fremont came to Kansas City on his first ex- 
pedition across the plains. At this time he made his headquarters at Cyprian 
Chouteau's house, six miles west, but outfitted here at Kansas City. In his subse- 
quent expeditions he made his headquarters with Wm. M. Chick, at Kansas City, 
while outfitting. 

During the year of 1843, Wm. M. Chick, father of Jos. S. Chick, now 
President of the Bank of Kansas City, who was then living at Westport, saw the 
tendency of trade to concentrate at Kansas City, and removed to this place and 
built a warehouse here. 

FROM 1843 TO 1846. 

The suppression of the Mexican trade in 1843 "^^s a severe blovv to Inde- 
pendence and damaged Westport somewhat. The former was thrown back upon 
its resources of local trade with the adjacent country, and the latter was left de- 
pendent mainly upon its Indian trade. Aside from the loss by the warehousemen 
of the few cargoes they had been receiving, on account of this trade, Kansas City 
was not affected. 




KANSAS CITY JOURNAL BUILDING. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 35 



THE GREAT FLOODS. 



In 1843-4 events transpired here which have furnished material for many a 
fireside story among the old settlers. These were the great floods and attendant 
adventures of these two years. That of 1843 was not so great as that of 1844, 
which was the greatest ever known in these rivers. 

During the past Spring of i88r, the United States Engineer, having charge of 
the river improvements at this point, J. W. Nier, Esq., informed the press that he 
had information of great snows and large accumulations of water in the Upper 
Missouri and its tributaries, which rendered a recurrence of these floods not im- 
probable. This called forth from John C. McCoy, Esq., the following graphic 
historical sketch of the great flood, which will be interesting in this connection : 

" The subject of floods in the Missouri and Kansas River in the past, and the 
probabilities of their recurrence in the future, is neither a pleasant or popular 
theme to talk or write about just now, aad those who indulge in speculations or 
predictions of danger are looked upon as croakers and birds of evil omen, espe- 
cially by those whose interests would be in jeopardy in the event of their fulfillment. 
This is very plainly shown by the way many persons interested in West Kansas 
City and the bottom lands of the river have received warnings and statements of 
the United States engineer as to the probable danger of a devastating flood in the 
Missouri River, and which appeared in the Journal a. few days ago. His state- 
ments have, I think, provoked a good deal of unjust and unnecessary criticism 
and comment. He is a stranger to me, but holding the position of trust and re- 
sponsibility he does in the engineer service of the Government, we may safely 
conclude that he is at least theoretically competent, and certainly possesses the 
most correct information obtainable to enable him to form a proper estimate of 
the danger to be apprehended. Not only this, but it is his special business to 
study the situation. He is in possession of all the facts and facilities requisite to 
form a correct conclusion in the premises. 

"Now, granting that it is his deliberate judgment, formed from these sources, 
that the dire calamity of a devastating flood was likely to sweep over the West 
Kansas City bottoms, causing the loss of millions of dollars value in property and 
perhaps many lives, his failure to give timely warning, would, under the circum- 
stances, be looked upon as little short of murder; and then, if his predictions fail 
and the elements over which he has no control are propitious, why then he sub- 
jects himself to ungenerous flings and jeers. His situation in the premises is one 
of great responsibility and certainly by no means to be envied. Having some 
knowledge of facts connected with floods in the Missouri River, I will venture, 
disagreeable as the subject may be to many, to briefly state them. Physic, albeit 
nauseating, is sometimes very beneficial to general health. We may sincerely 
hope the general health in this case is in no danger at present. The records of 
the past tell us of only three floods that may be regarded as devasting, viz : In 
1782, 1826 and 1844. (One other in 1843 only partially so, and many others 
where the overflows caused little or no damage.) According to my recollection, 
the overflow of 1843 occurring the last of May and the first of June, reached a 
height about six feet lower than that of the succeeding year of June, 1844, and 
the damage was correspondingly less. The winter of 1842-3 was a long, hard 
one with much snow toward the mountains. In January there was a general 
thaw and break up with fine wetaher lasting nearly three weeks and the steamer 
" lone" ascended the river to Kansas City. On the diy of her arrival it turned 
suddenly cold, the river froze up again and so remained until near the ist of May, 
during which time the boat remained near the foot of Grand avenue. 

"The rise of water in 1843 ^^^.s high enough to wash away some heavy new 
one-story log houses standing near the river bank at the lower end of Harlem, 
which I had put up at the beginning of winter. I stood on the levee one day and 



36 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY, 

witnessed their departure with sudden lurch and a graceful sweep of the upper end 
toward the river that mingled and melted away in the boiling flood. — Have I told 
this story so often that I really believe it was an actual occurrence, and that ru- 
mors of the snowfields to the northwest, caused me as soon as the ice was out of 
the river, to vamose the imperiled ranch? Nay, even before that occurred that I 
pulled down one house and hauled the hewed logs across on the ice and put them 
up to live in near the foot of William street ? Does any one doubt the correct- 
ness of this statement? And that this occurred in 1843, the year before the 
great flood? I hope not, for I am now going to say something of another flood 
that far exceeded this one in its desolating effects — that which occurred from the 
13th to the i6th of June, 1844. The water rose to a height of six feet or more 
above that of the previous year. The Missouri River at about the r3th was only 
a few feet over the bottom lands, but the great volume of water that came down 
the Kansas River madly rushing against the mighty Missouri caused the seething 
waters to pile up at the mouth, no doubt several feet higher than they would have 
done had they met at the point of junction more obliquely. 

"On the morning of the 14th, Col. Wm. M. Chick, who was temporarily oc- 
cupying with his family a house he owned, which stood on the east side of Tur- 
key Creek, not far southeast of the State Line house, was surprised to find the 
water just rising above the banks of the creek. By 9 o'clock it had reached the 
door step, and as the ground was lower toward the hills eastward, he deemed it 
advisable to seek a place of safety on higher ground, which they succeeded in 
doing with the aid of a canoe or small boat. His daughter, Mrs. Peery, went to 
the hills near Twelfth Street on a horse, the water being then about mid-side to 
the horse near the hills. From thence she made her way to my house, two miles 
south of the city, and astonished me by her statement of facts. I galloped down 
to the ferry across the river, which I owned, and ran at that time, and taking a 
skiff" with Col. John Polk, we made our way, with great difficulty and danger, up 
through the woods to the house, where we arrived at about twelve o'clock, and 
found the water about waist deep on the lower floor. We secured as many articles 
as our skiff would carry, placed the balance out of the reach of the water, and 
made our way back to the ferry, where I immediately secured a party of about ten 
persons to take up the ferry flat to secure that which was left. 

" The seething, foaming flood of water was not only dashing madly onward in 
the river channel, but it swept across the heavily timbered bottom of West Kan- 
sas, from bluff to bluff, with a roar almost deafening. With the aid of twenty or 
more men in rounding the rocky headland above the bridge, we finally reached 
the building about four o'clock p. m., when we found the water had reached 
nearly to the upper floor. Placing the boat beside the house we tore off a portion 
of the roof, the eaves of which was probably five feet above the boat — the upper 
window being too small to pass out the furniture. Being now nearly dark we 
held a council, and decided to tie up for the night, deeming it unsafe to venture 
into the river in the dark. So we ran up to the smoke-house, built of heavy logs, 
in which about 5,000 pounds of bacon was floating about, and there spent the 
long, dreary hours of the night in roasting bacon and hams and telling marvelous 
tales of blood-curdling scenes that never happened, probably. 

"In the morning we found that the depth of water under our boat was at 
least ten feet, and the water still rising. 

" Now, those who feel disposed to believe the above statements of facts can 
make their own estimate of the rapidity of the rise of water in twelve hours from 
the morning of June 14. I make it from eight to ten feet. Is this incredible? 
If so, ask Col. Polk, Allen McGee, William Mulkey, and others who spent the 
night with me in that flood of waters. 

" I will now mention only one other episode of that eventful day in West Kan- 
sas. During the night of the 15th, and the next morning, from time to time 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 37 

loud cries of distress were heard over at Wyandotte, in the direction of the resi- 
dence of Louis Tromley, who then Uved near the Missouri south bank, just east 
of the State line. Those who listened to those cries knew full well that the old man 
was in deep trouble, as well as deep waters, but the impetuous Kaw forced its 
mad waters into the broad sea of the Missouri with a current so rapid that it was 
impossible to get the ferry flat across to the opposite woods (for there were no 
banks then) without cordeling the boat some distance up the Kaw, and before 
this could be done darkness had overspread the desolate scene. At early dawn 
brave hearts and strong arras were ready for the rescue. Isaiah Walker, Ethan 
Long, Russell Garret, David Froman, and Tall Charles, of Wyandott, soon made 
their way with the boat, cutting their way through the woods, to poor old Trom- 
ley, whom they found perched in a tree, and a few hundred yards farther on his 
wife in another tree, and a short distance further his boy sitting astraddle of the 
comb of the house which was just beginning to sway into the seething waters 
of the river. 

"Tromley had tried to make his way to Wyandotte on a log, in order to pro- 
cure a boat and help, but finding he would be inevitably swept into the Missouri, 
he desisted from his effort and betook himself to his perch in the tree, and thus 
passed the long vigils of that dreary, desolate night to those three heipless 
persons. Poor Tromley meanwhile trying throughout its long watches to cheer 
and comfort his terrified wife and boy, whom he was unable to reach. The res- 
cuers took them to the hills, near Twelfth street, on their way, picking up some 
others as they went. Soon afterward old Tromley's house, with his favorite dog 
perched upon its top, was seen by the hundreds gathered on the hillsides passing 
rapidly down in mid current and Poor Tromley, who had just arrived, called to 
his dog by name, who set up a mournful wail, and the old man seemed disposed to 
dash in to its rescue. During this day, the 15th, the Wyandotte rescuers, were 
busy saving persons and property in the West Kansas bottom until darkness clos- 
ed their labors, theirs being the only boat that operated on that day, and after 
that none was needed for nothing was left to save of life or property. On the 
same day 1 went down with an old horse boat I had and brought up Mrs. 
Chouteau and her household goods from her homestead below East Kansas, to 
the high grounds above. 

"Now, Mr. Editor, I have written these few incidents of the great flood of 
1844 not as a sensation, for the facts are just as I have related them without any 
undue coloring. Neither have I done so to create any unnecessary alarm, for I 
don't know that there are any grounds for any, but simply to communicate some 
facts that everyone having interests in the river bottoms ought to know. But 
smart people may laugh me to scorn, and so they would have done to old Trom- 
ley a day or two before he went to roost in that hackberry tree, had he been 
guilty of the same indiscretion. I have seen times when I would have felt su- 
premely happy to be sitting astraddle of a good dry log with my neither extremi- 
ties dangling in the waters beneath." 

The great flood of 1826 has already been mentioned in this history as having 
washed away the house of Mr. Chouteau, opposite Randolph Bluffs, which 
caused him to remove higher up the river and to higher ground. Little is known 
of this flood, but it doubtless was not such as to cover the ground to which Mr. 
Chouteau removed ; for it is not probable that after being washed away once he 
would rebuild below the high water line. However, the flood of 1844 proved 
that he made a mistake, for it washed away this second house which he had built. 
It also washed away the warehouse built by W. G. & G. W. Ewing, which was in 
the same vicinity, both being below the limits of the land of the Prudhomme estate, 
which had been partly laid off into town lots in 1839. It also washed away the 
warehouse built by the town company in 1839, and rose to the door of Wm. M. 
Chick's warehouse. This latter warehouse stood at the corner of Main street and 



33 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

the levee, and on ground fully six feet higher than the ground at that place 
at this time. The old log cabins built by the Frenchmen in 1826, on the river 
front and in the West Kansas bottoms, were all washed away, and that was about 
all there was of Kansas City at that time. During the flood steamboats ran up 
to Mr. Chick's warehouse door, which shows that they were floated over our 
present levee at an altitude fully six feet above the present level of the street. 

This flood had no material effect on the course of trade, as it did no damage 
at Blue Mills, at which point most of the Indian and Santa Fe trade was then 
effecting its exchange between boats and wagons, and it did not cause any of the 
warehouse business that was being done here, to drift away. It was of material 
advantage, however, in a local way, for two of the leading warehouses were below 
what was then the town, which diverted trade to that point. These were Chou- 
teau's and Ewing's, and by the washing away of these, the trade was drawn to 
Chick's warehouse, which was in town. Thus this great calamity was an advan- 
tage to what was then Kansas City, and every great calamity since, except the 
war, has equally redounded to her advantage, as the sequel will show. 

OTHER EVENTS OF 1 843 TO 1 846. 

In 1844, H. M. Northrup, now a banker at Wyandotte, Kansas, came to 
Kansas City with the largest stock of merchandise that had yet been offered here, if 
not, in fact, the largest stock that had yet been offered at any place near this angle 
of the river. He made an effort at once to do a jobbing trade with the traders in 
western and southwestern Missouri and the Indian country, and was very success- 
ful in establishing that kind of a trade ; so much so that he soon became an import- 
ant jobbing merchant, and shipped goods to local traders two hundred miles down 
the border of Missouri. This was the first attempt at a jobbing trade in Kansas 
City or on this border, and was the fitting super-position of a civilized distributive 
trade upon the old distributive trade of the French with the Indians ; and pre- 
served that distinctive feature of trade as Kansas City passed from the French- 
Indian era into an era of civilized commerce. Mr. Northrup was a most impor- 
tant element in the early development of Kansas City, and in the building up of 
his business did more than any other man of that time, to build up the town. 

In 1845, James H. McGee made some brick on his farm south of the then 
town, and built the first brick house ever built in Kansas City. From this lot of 
brick J. C. McCoy, who then conducted the ferry at this place, built the L part 
of a brick house, which still stands on the bluff, between Grand avenue and Wal- 
nut street. These were the first brick made in Kansas City, and the first laid 
here. 

RENEWAL OF THE MEXICAN TRADE. 

In 1845 the Santa Fe trade was resumed with larger proportions than before, 
and with many new men engaged in it. By this time steamboatmen had become 
better acquainted with the river and had come to appreciate the natural rock 
landing at the town of Kansas, which was then superior to that of Blue Mills or 
Wayne City. The traders had also come to appreciate the advantages of this as a 
starting point. Before the sui)pression of the trade in 1843 they had learned the ad- 
vantage of herding their teams on the prairie across the line in the Indian country, 
and to a considerable extent had adopted the custom of keeping their teams there, 
making their own headcjuarters at Westport, then the nearest town, and waiting 
until their goods arrived at Blue Mills, when they would hitch up and go after 
them. To this fact Westport owed whatever share of the trade she enjoyed prior 
to that suppression. This custom was established with the re-establishment of the 
trade in 1845, ^^^ then the hardship of going twelve miles after their goods 
through a wooded country had been greatly increased by the settlements and cut- 
ting up of the country into farms, hence there arose a more urgent necessity for a 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



39 



nearer landing. Messrs. Bent and St. Vrain, who were among the oldest Indian 
traders on the plains, and who understood the advantages of this point better than 
many others who had engaged in the Santa Fe trade, landed a cargo of goods 
here this year, which, it is stated in Spalding's "Annals of Kansas City," pub- 
lished in 1858, was the first cargo of goods that ever went from this point in a 
train to Santa Fe. Others followed their example, so that in 1846 the people 
of Kansas City had what they regarded as a fair show of the trade 

THE EFFECT OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 

During the winter of 1845 and 1846, the Mexican war was impending, and 
preparations were being made at Fort Leavenworth and all along the border, for 
the expeditions that were to be started out in the spring. This gave a great im- 
pulse to the trade and prosperity of the border towns ; for now, more than ever 
was the advantages of this angle of the river as a point of departure for the south- 
west appreciated. It was the nearest point, to the scene of the struggle, that 
could be reached by water. To stop below was to increase the wagon transpor- 
tation over bad roads, and to go above was to increase the distance. Besides, 
at this angle of the river was the best landing and the best roads leading to 
Mexican territory. This locality, therefore, became the focus of outfitting and 
departure. Recruiting offices were opened in the border towns, and suttlers 
and quartermasters outfitted at them. Westport landing then became much more 
important than it ever had been before, as a place for transferring goods from 
steamboats to wagons, though it was not enough of a place to do much in the 
way of outfitting. Weston," Parkville and Liberty, but more particularly Inde- 
pendence and Westport, were greatly benefited by this trade ; the latter two 
places enjoying the largest part of the outfitting business. Westport was chiefly 
benefited, and at that time got an impulse that speedily raised it to rank with 
Independence. However, Kansas City felt the impulse of the preparations that 
were being made during the winter, and from the anticipation of the large amount 
of warehousing, and receiving and forwarding of military and suttler's goods, out- 
fits and supplies, soon to occur, it acquired new and improved prospects. These 
facts, united with the tendency the Mexican trade had shown the previous year 
to come to this place, led the town company to adjust their differences, and lay 
anew the foundation of the future city. 




bird's-eye view of the KANSAS CIIY EXPOSITION GROUNDS. 



40 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

CHAPTER VI. 
KANSAS CITY REDIVlVUS. 

Reorganization of the Totvn Company — The First Great Sale of Lots — An Interesting Record — Bad 
Titles — Further Surveys and Sales — The Company Dissolved — Tozvn Development — The Cali- 
fornia Emigration — The Concentration of the Santa Fe and Indian Trades at Kansas City — 
Cholera and its Direful Effects — Municipal Organization — The First Newspaper — Revival 
After the Cholera. 

The events chronicled in the last chapter concerning the movement and 
development of trade, together with the settlement of the question concerning 
the title of the town company to the Prudhomme estate led to a revival of the 
town building feeling. A meeting was held on the 28th of February, (1846), at the 
house of Wm. B. Evans, at which time were present Messrs. William Gillis, 
Fry, P. McGee, Jacob Ragan, Wm. B. Evans and John C. McCoy. These 
gentlemen, together with Robert Campbell and H. Jobe now held the fourteen 
original shares, some of the original parties having sold out to some of their 
associates or to the new parties here introduced into the company. The fourteen 
shares always existed so long as the company existed, but some members held 
two or more. The record of this meeting is as follows : 

"On motion of F. P. McGee, ordered that a sale of lots be advertised to 
take place on Thursday, the last day of April, next, and to be sold on twelve 
months credit, reserving the title of said lots until the money is paid, and to 
bear interest from due until paid at the rate of ten per cent per annum from due 
until paid." 

"On motion of Wm. Gillis ordered that the above sale be advertised in the 
following newspapers." 

The names of the newspapers do not appear however in the record. 

A settlement of the sales of 1836 was now made with the purchasers of lots 
at that sale. Interest was charged on the purchase price at ten per cent for six 
years, making the total for that sale, $11,482.88; the money was collected and 
tides made, the deeds being signed by each member of the company and the 
wife of each member, which was an expensive and laborious way of making 
titles. 

While the sale ordered at this meeting in February was being advertised a 
new survey was made by John C. McCoy. At this time he adopted the survey 
of 1838, and extended it back to the township line and east half a block beyond 
Grand avenue, then called Market street, and west three hundred feet be- 
yond Wyandotte street. 

THE FIRST GREAT SALE OF LOTS. 

The sale was held as advertised, and the original records of the company 
show that one hundred and twenty-seven lots were sold singly and two whole 
blocks together, Robert Campell being the purchaser of the two blocks, for 
which he paid three hundred dollars. These two blocks were those lying between 
Fourth and Fifth streets and Wyandotte and Main streets, now the center of 
Kansas City's Jobbing Trade. The highest price paid for any one lot sold at this 
sale was three hundred and forty-one dollars, paid by Wm. M. Chick for lot No. 
9. A few others in the same vicinity on the levee between Wyandotte and 
Walnut streets sold for between two and three hundred dollars, but niost of them 
went below one hundred. The amount for which some of the lots were sold 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 41 

is not carried out in the original record, but the total of those carried out is $8,- 
137.42. A copy of this record made at a later date foots up the sale $8,643.62. 
Spaldings Annals states this aggregate at $8,625, and the average at $55.65, but 
the records of the company do not appear to contain the data for such calculations. 

AN INTERESTING RECORD. 

A very interesting feature of the record of this sale is that it gives the voca- 
tion of most of the purchasers, as well as their names, and this shows what kinds 
of business prevailed here at that time, as well as who lived here. Thus it is 
shown that there were seven farmers among the purchasers, Jacob Ragan, N. 
Ross, W. G. Barkley, F. P. McGee, John Park, Peter McGee and Thomas A. 
Smart; four merchants, H. M. Northrup, W. M. Chick, P. M. Chouteau and 
Thos. Elliott; three butchers, John Javins, H. Javins and Thos. Javins ; three 
doctors, Jos. O. Boggs, Benoist Troost and S. G. Harlan ; two carpenters, Henry 
Jobe and M. Walden ; two grocers (saloon keepers in these times), Geo. Hudson 
and A. G. Yancy ; two traders, F. H. Booth and B. Linkingfelter ; two laborers, 
Henson Javins and Peter Belanger; two brick makers, Wm. B. Pruddy and Jas. 
Pruddy ; two brick layers, Wm. Champagne and Franklin Barnes ; one landlord, 
Wm. B. Evans ; one pilot, Chas. Dripps ; one lawyer, L. Kaufman ; one broker, 
Chas. Horning; one stone mason, D. Edgerton ; one Santa Fe trader, B. Pruitt; 
one surveyor, John C. McCoy; one tailor, J. A. StuU; one gunsmith, Gabriel 
Phillebert , one wheelwright, Moise Belmar ; one school master, Lott Caufman ; 
one Indian, Isaac Zane, and one gentleman, Wm. Gillis. A " gentleman" in 
those days signified a man who had no regular business, and lived without labor. 
There were also among the purchasers Robert Campbell, formerly of the Rocky 
Mountain Fur Company, Thos. Breeze, Edward F. Hand, Lewis Ford, David 
McWilliams, Robert Hudgins, Elijah Jackson, S. D. Ray and Mr. Parsons, whose 
vocations are not stated in the record. 

Notwithstanding the inability of the company to make titles or sell lots be- 
tween 1838 and 1846, the tendency of trade to transfer itself to this point, caused 
an accumulation of people here for various purposes, so that at the time of this 
sale, in April, 1846, it was estimated that the town had already a population of 
not less than three hundred. 

BAD TITLES. 

Notes were taken for lots sold in 1846, having fallen due in 1847, o^ the ist 
May, of that year, P. M. Chouteau, son of Francois Chouteau, was appointed by the 
company to collect the money. On the 3d of May, Fry P. Mc Gee was also ap- 
pointed to collect. At this time, of course, titles had to be given to the lots, as 
the notes were collected, and the method employed the previous year — that of 
each member of the company and his wife signing the deed — was too slow and 
cumbersome to be re-adopted, hence a power of attorney was given to Mr. Chou- 
teau to sign the deeds for the company. This he did, but signed them by his 
own name as " attorney-in-fact," without signing the name of the company by 
himself as "attorney-in-fact." This was afterward found to be irregular, and it 
gave rise to much trouble in adjusting titles. 

While referring to this subject, it may be as well to mention another fact 
which subsequently arose to cause some litigation and trouble. A posthumous 
daughter was born to Gabriel Prudhomme after preceedings for sale in partition 
had been initiated by the other heirs. In this situation the order of court naming 
the heirs among whom the proceeds of sale were to be divided did not mention 
her, and hence the commissioner paid her nothing. She afterward became the 
wife of Col. M. J. Payne, now president of the Kansas City Gas Company, 
and suit was brought for her portion. This suit was not successful in its object, 
but for a long time it caused a cloud to rest upon the title to every lot in the 
Prudhomme estate. 



42 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

FURTHER SURVEYS THE COMPANY DISSOLVE. 

In May, 1847, the company decided to lay off the balance of their land into 
lots. Accordingly, a contract was made for the clearing of the land east of Mar- 
ket street (Grand avenue) to " Phillibert's Branch," about Campbell street, run- 
ning back to Fifth street; and John C. McCoy was employed to lay off the bal- 
ance of the land into lots. All this having been done, another sale of lots was 
held July 17, 1847, at which twenty-three lots were sold for an aggregate of $1,- 

475-30- 

On this same day — July 17th — the company decided to close up its affairs, 
and divide proceeds. Accordingly, Messrs. McGee, Gillis and Evans were ap- 
pointed to make a survey of the assets of the company, preparatory to such ac- 
tion. On the 30th of September following, the division was made, lots and notes 
being apportioned to each share in the company, in as nearly equal values as possi- 
ble. The company appears here to have practically gone out of existence, as the 
record shows no further proceedings, except some business transacted for it by 
McCoy and GilUs, in disposing of a few lots overlooked by the committee, in 
the division of the proceeds. 

TOWN DEVELOPMENT. 

At the time of the first sale above referred to, April 30, 1846, it was estimat- 
ed that there were about three hundred people in the new town, nearly all settled 
along the river front. However, under the impulse of the Mexican war and San- 
ta Fe trade, added to the Indian trade already existing, the place grew rapidly, 
and before the close of the year, the population was estimated at seven hundred. 
New warehouses and outfitting houses were estabhshed, trade facilities became 
much enlarged, and the tendency of the Santa Fe and Mexican war trades to 
concentrate at this point largely increased. 

The next year, 1847, Colonel Charles E. Kearney, now of this city, located 
in Westport, and went into business with W. R. Bernard, still a citizen of that 
place. Mr. Bernard was at that time engaged with Colonel A. G. Boone, in In- 
dian trading, and Colonel Kearney had been for some years previous trading in 
Old Mexico, from southern points. The new firm opened a large outfitting house 
for the Santa Fe traders, and thus supplied the only lacking facility for transfer- 
ring the trade to the border, and obviating the eighteen miles haul and the bad 
roads, and the rendezvous twelve miles from the depot of supply. Kansas City, 
in her new warehouses, in her unequaled natural steamboat landing, and her near 
proximity, supplied all the balance. For the next three years Westport was the 
headquarters of the trade, but Kansas City was rapidly absorbing it. 

CALIFORNIA EMIGRATION. 

The excitement incident to the revival of the Santa Fe trade and the Mexi- 
can War, was supplemented by the California gold excitement in 1849. The 
progress of Kansas City meantime was rapid, for anew town, against older, more 
populous, and better known towns. Still, she had not, up to this time, advanced 
to a point where she could successfully compete with Westport and Independence 
for this new trade, and while it lasted they had the lion's share of it. The emi- 
gration was large through this locality, for it was soon found that on the more 
northern routes the springs were later, and the winters came earlier, not giving 
emigrants time to get through. Besides, the routes up the valley of the Kansas 
River, or over the prairies toward Santa Fe, were by far the best for the emi- 
grants. Many of them came by boat to this place, and outfitted here. It was 
useless to go higher up the river, for they got no nearer to California by doing so, 
besides which they lost their time, and approached the latitude of shorter seasons. 
Here again this locality vindicated its natural advantages, and again Kansas City 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 43 

vindicated her natural advantages as the best steamboat landing on the river, and 
her rightful claim to the business being done from neighboring points. 

CHOLERA AND ITS EFFECTS. 

At the same time this new element of trade and town development came into 
existence, there came also that dread scourge, the cholera. It came first in 1849. 
It first made its appearance among some Belgians brought here by Mr. Guinotte 
and Mr. Chouteau. There were about eighty of them camped below town, and 
tRe cholera proved very fatal among them, and soon spread to other classes of 
the populations and to Independence, Westport and other neighboring places. 
From the earliest history of this disease, it appears to have traveled farthest and 
fastest and with deadliest effect along water courses, Wherever it has taken epi- 
demic form in this country, it has shown this pecuHarity to a marked degree, and 
once possessing itself of a footing on the Mississippi it has penetrated all the 
ramifications of its tributaries. Kansas City this year having a large trade and 
many steamboats touching her levee from points below, received the scourge in 
its most fatal form. It followed the California emigrants in 1849 and 1850 on to 
the plains, and besides decimating their numbers also greatly depressed the trade 
and emigration. In 1850 there was little if any of it in Kansas City, or in the 
adjacent cities of Independence and Westport, and, though it had caused the flight 
of many people from here, they returned, and in 1850 Kansas City had a popula- 
tion of between 700 and 800. 

THE SANTA FE TRADE DRIFTS TO KANSAS CITY. 

But though Kansas City did not participate to any great extent in the rich 
harvests of the Mexican war and California emigration trade, she felt the stimu- 
lus of it and grew rapidly. And as she grew, adding warehouses and outfitting 
stores to the facilities of her natural landing, she began more and more surely to 
command the Santa Fe trade. At a banquet given by the merchants Christmas 
day, 1857, Col. E. C. McCarty made a speech, a report of which is here copied 
from the Journal of contemporaneous date, because of its historical value : 

" He said he was a poor speaker, but would make some few statements as 
to the Santa Fe trade. He had been engaged in it as early as 1828, having come 
to Missouri in December of that year. The Santa Fe trade was then in its infancy, 
from $50,000 to $100,000 being the amount of merchandise transported annually 
across the plains. In those days there were very few trains with more than two 
or three wagons, and it was customary for all the Mexican traders to meet at 
Council Grove, organize into a company under a captain there chosen, and so 
proceed on their journey under his direction. The press of the whole United 
States then used to make particular mention of the departure of the Santa Fe 
caravan from Council Grove, and like notice was given of their return. It was 
almost universally the case in those early days for some one or more of the party 
to be scalped by the Indians. The trade gradually commenced to increase year 
by year, and has multiplied to the present almost incredible amount. I was in- 
formed two years ago, by Dr. Connelly, probably the largest trader in New 
Mexico, that the Santa Fe trade across the plains then amounted to five millions 
of dollars, nearly all of which passed through the City of Kansas. It was on 
this statement of the amount of trade as set forth as above, that he succeeded in 
forcing the passage of a bill by the Legislature establishing a Court of Common 
Pleas in this city, while bills sent in in favor of other counties were rejected. In 
the spring of 1847 he, in company with Mr. Russell, now (1857) of Leavenworth, 
started the first train from this city to New Mexico. Old Mr. McDonald went in 
charge of it, and was the first man that ever crossed the great American Desert 
with a wagon. Mr. Northrup was the first merchant he had the pleasure of doing 
business with in Kansas City, and their business operations have been continued 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 45 

until the present time with high satisfaction to the speaker. Mr. Northrup was 
one of those men who had taken an early day for settlement in Kansas City and 
had stuck to it ever since. In the spring of 1850 his brother, then in New Mexico, 
came in as a partner of Capt. St. Vrain, and through their influence and his own, 
all outfitting trade, previously done in Independence, was brought to this point, 
and from the year 1850 dates the era of Kansas City trade with New Mexico. 
Six hundred wagons started from this point that year. Was engaged, as one of 
the firm of Brown, Russell & Co., during the summer and fall of 1850, in trans- 
porting the army supplies from Fort Leavenworth to the western forts, and Irom 
their knowledge of the routes they oftered the Government to receive the freight 
at St. Louis, and pay freight and insurance on the same from thence to this point 
if the Government would permit them to land the goods here instead of at Fort 
Leavenworth, as the advantages of the route from this point would more than com- 
pensate for the additional expense. The Government refused to do it — for who 
ever knew an army officer to walk ten steps out of his way to accommodate any- 
body? Their loss, in consequence of not being permitted to start from this point, 
amounted to sixty thousand dollars, one item in which was 600 yoke of oxen. 
For a number of years it was customary to transport all goods over the plains by 
mules, as it was thought impossible for oxen and wagons to be used. He was 
the first man that started an ox team across the plains from this point, and they 
had been used altogether ever since." 

At the time of the occurrences here referred to by Col. McCarty, Kansas 
City had not probably more than five hundred inhabitants, owing to the effects of 
the cholera in 1849 ii'' driving people away. In 1850 Kansas City, Independ- 
ence and Westport were none of them iscorporated towns, hence the census of 
that year does not give the population separate from that of the townships in 
which they were located. Lexington, however, was a considerable place, and 
Weston had a population of 3,775. The growth of these two places was due to 
the large production of hemp in those days, for which they were the markets. 

CHOLERA AGAIN. 

However the rapid development of the city promised by the fact here noted 
by Col. McCarty it was destined to receive a serious check by the re-appearance of 
the cholera in 1851. At this time it created a panic, which speedily reduced the 
population to about three hundred. People literally deserted the town and fled 
in all directions. The scourge revisited the place in 1852, and revived to a consid- 
erable degree the previous panic. That year forty-eight deaths occurred in Westport 
within twenty-four hours after the appearance of the disease, and there were in a 
like space of time about forty deaths in Independence and twenty or more in 
Kansas City. Owing to this circumstance the outfitting business for the Santa Fe 
trade and the trade on and across the })lains did not fully concentrate itself here 
until several years afterward — about 1856 and 1S57. 

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 

There was no municipal government in Kansas City prior to 1853. Previous 
to that time the peace was preserved and difificulties were adjusted by a township 
Justice of the Peace and a constable, but a circumstance occurred in December, 
1852, which led to the establishment of municipal gevernment. This circum- 
stance was the arrest of a man for some light offense by the constable, upon 
whose trial it was discovered that the commission issued to the authorities was 
for the next congressional township east, which located their jurisdiction at least six 
miles from where they had been exercising their authority. This led to a move- 
ment looking to municipal organization. That winter, February 22, 1853, a char- 
ter was obtained from the State, and in the spring of 1853 a municipal government 
was organized. The land embraced in Kansas City, according to this charter, was 



46 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

bounded by the river on the north, by Summit street on the west, by Ninth street 
on the south, and on the east by the alley between Holmes and Charlotte streets, 
and therefore embraced much that was not yet, nor for two years to come, laid 
off into town lots. All that was platted at that time was the old Prudhomme 
estate, the boundaries of which have already been given. At the election, W. S. 
Gregory was elected mayor, but served only a short time when Dr. Johnson 
Lykins was elected to succeed him. Dr. Lykins was re-elected next spring, and 
in the spring of 1855 John Johnson was elected, but resigned a month afterward. 
M. J. Payne succeeded him, and held the office till i860. 

A list of city officers from the organization of the town to the present time 
is here inserted: 

1853 — Mayor, W. S. Gregory, Johnston Lykins; Treasurer, P. M. Chouteau; 
Assessor, G. W. Wolf; Register, S. W. Bonton; Marshal, N B. Hedges; Attorney, 
Judge Nelson ; Councilmen, Wm. G. Barkley, Thompson McDaniel, M. J. Payne, 
Wm. J. Jorboe, T. H. West, Johnston Lykins, T. S. Wright.; 

1854 — Johnston Lykins, Mayor; H. M. Northrup, Treasurer; Hallom Rice, 
Assessor; John Curtis, Wm. G. Barkley, Registers; J. P. Howe, Marshal; John 
Curtis, Asa Bartlett, City Attorneys; Councilmen, Benoist Troost, J. C. McNees, 
Daniel Edgerton, Caleb Keer, M. J. Payne, Tilman H. West. 

1855 — John Johnson, M. J. Payne, Mayor; E. R. Threlkeld, Treasurer; 
J. W. Summers, Assessor; M. J. Payne, W. S. Bouton, Registers; Fred Breck- 
enridge, C. C. Spaulding, City Engineer; J. P. Howe, Marshal; Asa Bartlett, 
City Attorney ; Councilmen : Caleb Keer, A. T. Gilham, John W. Ammons, 
John S. Campbell, T. J. Wilson, John C. McNees. 

1856— M. J. Payne, Mayor; E. R. Threlkeld, Treasurer; J. P. Howe, 
Assessor ; S. W. Bouton, Register ; Robt. J. Lawrence, City Engineer ; J. P. 
Howe, Marshal; S. W, Bouton, City Attorney; Councilmen: John Johnson, T. 
J. Wilson, Caleb Kerr, John S. Campbell, A. T. Gilham; Wm. J. JarboCjjN. 

B. Hedges. 

1857 — M. J. Payne, Mayor; E. R. Threlkeld, Treasurer; F. M. Barnes, 
Collector; S. W. Bouton, Assessor; John S. Hough, S. W. Bouton, Register; 

C. P. Wiggins, E. O'Flaherty, City Engineer; J. P. Howe, Marshal; Wm. A. 
Strong, City Attorney; Councilmen: R. J. Lawrence, Wm. J. Jarboe. R. T. 
Van Horn, A. T. Gilham, Michael Smith, L M. Redge, D. J. Williams. On 
the 17th of August this council resigned and the following were elected; Wm. 
J. Jarboe, John Johnson, James A. Frame, T. B. Lester, L M. Ridge. John A. 
Boar man. 

1858— M. J. Payne, Mayor; E. P. Threlkeld, Treasurer; D. L. Shouse, 
Collector ; Lott Coffman, Jas. A. Gregory. Assessors ; J. W. Robinson, L. B. 
Scott, Register; J. Q. Anderson, Engineer; S. M. Gilham, Wharf Master; F. 
M. Barnes, Marshal; J. W. Robinson, City Attorney; Councilmen: T. B. Les- 
ter, John W. Ammons, John S. Hough, Michael Smith, Charles Long, George 
W. See. 

1859 — J. M. Payne, Mayor: John A. Boarman Treasurer; D. L. Shouse, 
Collector ; S. W. Bouton, Assessor ; Daniel Geary, Register ; J. Q. Anderson, 
City Engineer; S. M. Gilham, Wharf Master; W. A. Pollard, Wharf Register; 
Jonathan Richardson, Marshal; John W. Robinson, City Attorney; John W. 
Summers, Recorder ; Councilmen : J. B. Higgins, E. M. McGee, L. A. Sehoen, 
E. B. Cravens, Theodore S. Case, N. C. Clairborne. 

i860 — G. M. B. Maughs, Mayor; John A. Boarman, Treasurer; S. D, 
Vaughan, Collector; J. K. Staw. Assessor, Daniel Geary, Register; C. L. 
DeHam, City Engineer; J. E.Jewell, W. V. PuUiam, Wharf Master; Thomas 
Oliver, Wharf Register; Jonathan Richardson, City Attorney; John W. Sum- 
mers, Recorder; Councilmen: Lott Coffman, W. V. Pulliam, W. W. Ford, A. L. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 47 

Harris, John Campbell, D. A. N. Grover, W. J. Jarboe, D. M. Jarboe, Dennis 
O'Brien. 

1861 — R. T. Van Horn, Mayor; John A. Boarman, Treasurer; S.. D. 
Vaughan, Collector; E. O'Flaherty, Assessor; Michael Smith, Register; E. 
O'Flaherty, City Engineer; Thos. Oliver, Wharf Register; Geo. F. Irwin, Wm. 
Holmes, Marshal ; J. S. Boreman, City Attorney ; Geo. W. Taler, Recorder ; 
CoLincilmen : D. A. N. Grover, A. L. Harris, Patrick Shannon, Charles Long, 
J. E. Snyder, M. J. Payne, B. M. Jewett, N. Vincent, Johnston Lykins. 

1862 — M. J. Payne, Mayor; J. A. Bechman, Treasurer; S. D. Vaughan, 
Collector; E. O'Flaherty, Assessor; M. Smith, Register; Bernard Donnelly, 
Register; E. O'Flaherty, Engineer; F. R. Lord, Wharf Master ; D. M. Jarboe, 
Wharf Master ; John Joyce, Wharf Register ; Wm. Holden, Marshal ; William 
Quarles, City Attorney ; Geo. W. Toler, Recorder ; Councilmen : Joshua 
Thorne, M. IDiveley, E. M. Sloan, J. R. Ham, John Kaney, Lewis Deardorf, 
Thomas Burke, P. Switzgable. 

1863 — William Bonnefield, Mayor; A. B. Cross, Treasurer; C. F. Smith, 
Collector; D. M. Jarboe, Assessor; B. Donnelly, Register; R. B. Whitney, 
Engineer ; Fred. Von Longinan, F. McMillian, Wharf Master ; W. B. Hoag- 
land, Alphonso Hughes, Wharf Register; Dennis O'Brien, Marshal; William 
Quarles, City Attorney ; A. Ellenberger, Recorder ; Councilmen : C. W. Fair- 
man, P. Switzgable, W. C. Holmes, F. Timmerman, F. P. Flagler, Lewis Dear- 
dorf, Thomas Burk, Charles Dwyer. 

1864 — R. T. Van Horn, P. Shannon, Mayor; S. D. Vaughan, Treasurer; 
R. Salibury, E. B. Cravens, Collector; E. O'Flaherty, Assessor; B. Donnelly, 
Register; William Miller, Engineer; T. R. Lord, Wharf Master; John Joyce, 
Wharf Register ; Dennis O'Brien, Marshal; Charles Carpenter, Attorney; A. 
Ellenberger, Recorder ; Councilmen : C. A. Carpenter, Jas Mansfield, Charles 
Dwyer, T. S. Case, Thomas Burk, B. L. Riggins, Aaron Raub, P. C. Causey, 
P. Shannon, P. S. Brown. 

1865 — P- Shannon, Mayor; S. D. Vaughan, Treasurer; E. B. Cravens, 
Collector; E. O'Flaherty, Assessor; B. Donnelly, Register; William Miller, E. 
O'Flaheriy, Engineer; Thomas Fox, Wharf Master; Samuel Quest, Wharf Reg- 
ister ; Jeremiah Dowd, Marshal ; T. B. Rummel, Attorney ; C. A. Carpenter, 
Recorder ; Councilmen : P. S. Brown, J. Q. Watkins, H. L. Hughn, E. F. 
Rogers, John Taylor, Gerhart Zueker, Thomas Burke, William Kalb. 

1866 — A. L. Harris, Mayor; S. D. Vaughan, Treasurer; Charles, Long, 
Collector; B. Donnelly, Assessor; D. O'Brien, Register; Edmond O'Flaherty, 
Engineer ; H. G. Toler, Wharf Master ; Phillip Ott, Wharf Register ; Jeremiah 
Dowd, Marshal; Charles Carpenter, Attorney; C. A. Carpenter, Recorder; 
Councilmen : Charles Dwyer, John Bauerlein, Robert Salisbury, F. A. Mitchell, 
N. Vincent, Henry Tobener, Thomas Burk, David Slater, John R. Balis. 

1867 — E. H. Allen, Mayor; J. W. L. Slavens, Treasurer; James Lee, As- 
sessor; Dennis O'Brien, Auditor; Oscar Koehler, Engineer; E. B. McDill, 
Wharf Master; A. T. Hoover, Wharf Register; T. J. Brougham, City Clerk; 
J. B. Brothers, Marshal; William Warner, City Attorney; P. Lucas, C. A. Car- 
penter, Recorder ; Edmond Keller, Market Master ; Councilmen : John Camp- 
bell, Herman Hucke, H. W. Cooper, E. A. Phillips, H. L. Hughn, E. H. 
Spalding, J. W. Keefer, Henry Speers. 

1868 — A. L. Harris, Mayor; George Sweeny, Treasurer; J. B. Drinkard, 
Assessor; Dennis O'Brien, Auditor; John Donnelly, Engineer; A. T. Hoover, 
Wharf Master; J. Draggon, Wharf Register; D. E. Dickinson, City Physician ; 
T. B. McLean, T. J. Brougham, Mell. H. Hudson, City Clerk ; J. L. Keck, 
Marshal ; H, P. White, Attorney ; C. A. Carpenter, Recorder ; Edward Keller, 
Market Master; Councilmen: Wm. Smith, M. English, Junius Chaffee, J. W, 



48 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Cook, H. Hucke, John Campbell, H. W. Cooper, E. A. Phillips, A. H. Water- 
man. 

1869 — F. R. Long, Mayor; George Sweeny, Treasurer; C. F. Smith, As- 
sessor; Dennis O'Brien, Auditor; John Donnelly, Engineer; A. T. Hoover, 
Wharf Master; Mell. H. Hudson, City Clerk; J. L. Keck, Marshal; D. S. 
Twitchell, Attorney; W. H. Sutton, Recorder; D. E. Dickinson, City Physician; 
Councilmen : Junius Chaffee, C. J. White, J. W. Cook, M. English, J. H. McGee, 
A. H. Waterman, T J. Wolf, R. W. Hilliker. 

1870 — E, M. McGee, Mayor; George Sweeny, Treasurer; P. M. Chouteau, 
Collector; Robert Salisbury, Assessor; John T. Tobin, Auditor; John Donnelly, 
Engineer; A. T. Hoover, Wharf Master; Daniel Geary, City Clerk; Thomas 
M. Speers, Marshal; H. P. White, Attorney; C. A. Carpenter, Recorder; H. 
F. Smith, Market Master; D. E. Dickinson, City Physician; Councilmen: Junius 
Chaffee, John Campbell, C. J. White, P. J. Henn, J. H. McGee, John W Keefer, 
D. Ellison, J. Lykins, T. J. Wolf, Thomas Burk, R. W. Hilliker, James E. 
Marsh. 

1871. — Wm. Warner, Mayor; Samuel Jarboe, Treasurer; P. M. Chouteau, 
Collector; O. Chanute, J. J. Moore, Engineers; John J. Tobin, Auditor; Rob- 
ert Salisbury, Assessor ; Daniel Geary, City Clerk; J. W. Dunlap, City Attorney; 
D. A. N. Grover, Recorder ; T. M. Speers, Marshal ; W. C. Evens, City Phys- 
ician; R. C. Gould, Market Master; John C Gage, J. Brumback, Counselors; 
Councilmen, Junius Chaffee, John Campbell, William Weston, H. T. Hovelman, 
P. J. Henn, J. W. Keefer, David Ellison, J. Lykins, Jacob Toney, Thomas 
Burke, James Hannon, James E. Marsh. 

1872. — R H. Hunt, Mayor; H. C. Kumpf, Auditor; Samuel Jarboe, Treas- 
urer; O. G. Long, Recorder; Wm. Sheppard, Marshal; John C. Campbell, At- 
torney; H. B. Toelle, Supervisor of Registration; Daniel Geary, J. Enright, 
City Clerk ; J. M. Silvers, Chief of Fire Department ; Sam. Winram, Inspector of 
Weights and Measures ; W. C. Evens, Physician ; H. L. Marvin, Engineer ; P. 
M. Chouteau, Collector; R. C. Gould, Market Master ; Robt. Salisbury, Asses- 
sor; J. Brumback, Counselor; W. A. M. Vaughan, Wharf Master; J. Y. Lever- 
idge. Wood Inspector ; Chas. Quest, E. H. Russell, Supt. Workhouse ; Council- 
men, Michael Flynn, Wm. Weston, Lyman McCarty, Michael Diveley, M. Hor- 
ner, E. L. Martin, H. T. Hovelman, M. English, D. H. Porter, D. Ellison, 
Patrick Kirby, Patrick Fay. 

1873. — E. L. Martin, Mayor; D. H. Porter, Recorder; H. C Kumpf, 
Auditor; Wm. Weston, Treasurer; G. G. Neiswanger, Marshal; H. M. Withers, 
Attorney ; D. L. Hall, Supervisor of Registration ; M. McCormick, Supt. of 
Workhouse ; Web. Withers, Collector ; H. L. Marvin, Engineer ; John Phillips, 
Market Master ; John T. Blake, Robt. Salisbury, Assessor ; E. H. Russell, Sani- 
tary Sergeant; J. M. Silvers, Chief of Fire Department; A. M. Crow, Physician; 
A. Mayer, City Clerk; James Sweeny, Inspector of Weights and Measures ; Thos. 
Clowdsley, T. McLean, Wood Inspector; J. Brumback, Counselor. 

1874. — S. D. Woods, Mayor; James Farron, Recorder, H. C. Kumpf, Audi- 
tor; P. M. Chouteau, Treasurer; J. C. Tansney, Attorney; J. M. Ekdahl, Suj^er- 
visor of Registration ; F. M. Black, J. W. Dunlap, Counselor ; E. O'Flaherty, 
Engineer; J. O. Day. Physician; VV. B. Napton, Comptroller; M. E. Burnet, 
Chief of Fire Department ; F. Fitzpatrick, Supt Workhouse ; M. Renahan, Mar- 
ket Master; Robt. Salisbury, Assessor; John Ryan, Inspector Weights and Meas- 
ures; A. Mayer, City Clerk; Thomas Fox, License Inspector; Thomas M. 
Speers, Chief of Police. Councilmen, John Campbell, Jos. M. Beach, F. B. 
Nofsinger, A. C. Moffat, D. A. N. Grover, Dennis Levy, Chas. A. Ebert, W. 
W. Payne, O. H. Short, Ed. H. Webster, P. Kirby, Edward Kelley. 

1875. — Turner A. Gill, Mayor; P. M. Chouteau, Treasurer; H. C. Kumpf, 
Auditor; W. H. Sutton, Recorder; Wash. Adams, Attorney; J. M. Ekdahl, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 49 

Supervisor of Registration; D. A. N. Grover, Comptroller; John C. Gage, J. 
Brumback, Counselor ; Jas. Dowling, Superintendent Workhouse. Councilmen: 
J. M. Beach, John Campbell, A. C. Moffat, B. A. Feineman, Dennis Levy, G. W. 
Lovejoy, W. W. Payne, P. McAnany, Ed. H. Webster, J. W. Reid, Ed. Kelley, 
H. A. Simms. 

1876. — Turner A. Gill, Mayor; P. M. Chouteau, Treasurer; L. J. Talbott, 
Auditor; W. H. Sutton, H. R. Nelso, Recorder ; Wash. Adams, Attorney; J. M. 
Ekdahl, Supervisor of Registration; J. Brumback, Counsellor; D. A. N. Grover, 
Comptroller; Robert Salisbury, Assessor; A. A. Holmes, Engineer; Patrick 
O'Reilley, Market Master ;"Wm. C. Morris, Physician; J. W. Wirth, Supt. Work- 
house ; John Kelley, Inspector Weights and Measures ; A. Mayer, E. R. Hunter, 
City Clerk ; F. Foster, Chief of Fire Department ; Thos. M. Speers, Chief of 
Police. Councilmen : John Campbell, W. S. Gregory, B. A. Feineman, D. R. 
Porter, Edward Lynde, G. W. Lovejoy, Dennis Levy, P. McAnany, James M. 
Buckley, J. W. Reid, Wm. Holmes, H. A Simms, David P. Bigger. 

1877. — J. W. L. Slavens, Mayor; L. J. Talbott, Auditor; P. M. Chouteau, 
Treasurer; D. Ellison, Recorder; James Gibson, Attorney; John M. Ekdahl, 
Supervisor of Registration; J. M. Dews, Comptroller ; H. N. Ess, Counselor; 
Robert Salisbury, Assessor ; W. C. Morris, Physician ; F. M. Furgason, Inspector 
Licenses, Weights and Measures ; Joseph Porter, Market Master ; W. L. Shep- 
pard. Superintendent Workhouse ; W. E. Benson, City Clerk ; A. A. Holmes, 
Engineer; Thomas M. Spears, Chief of Police; F. Foster, Chief of Fire Depart- 
ment. Councilmen: W. S Gregory, Phihp Casey, E. Lynde, R. H. Drennon, 
Dennis Levy, C. C. Whitmeyer, James M. Buckley, W. B. Robinson, William 
Holmes, W. H. Winants, David P. Bigger, H. A. Simms. 

1878. — Geo. M. Shelley, Mayor; William Weston, Treasurer ; L. J. Talbott, 
Auditor; Hamilton Finney, Recorder; James Gibson, Attorney; Erastus Johns, 
Supervisor of Registration ; Robert Salisbury, Assessor ; W. E. Benson, City 
Clerk; W. L. Sheppard, William Kelley, Superintendents of Workhouse ; Joseph 
Porter, Market Master ; J. M. Trowbridge, Engineer; H. C. Kumpf, Comptroller; 
W. W. Payne, Inspector Licenses, Weights and Measures; S. P. Twiss, Coun- 
selor ; A. M. Crow, Physician ; Thomas M. Speers, Chief of Police ; F. Foster, 
Chief of Fire Department. Councilmen: Philip Casey, P. D. Etue, R. H. 
Drennon, H. C. Morrison, C. C. Whitmeyer, T. W. Butler, W. B. Robinson, 
L. A. Allen, W. H. Winants, Louis Dragon, H. A. Simms, A. H. Glasner. 

1879. — George M. Shelley, Mayor; A. C. Walmsley, Treasurer; William 
Vincent, Auditor ; Hamilton Finney, Recorder ; Thomas King, Attorney ; M. 
K. Kirk, Supervisor of Registration ; T. A. Gill, Counselor ; H. C. Kumpf, 
Comptroller; Robert Sahsbury, Assessor; W. E. Benson, City Clerk; C. H. 
Knickerbocker, Engineer; John Donnelly, Assistant Engineer; D. R. Porter, 
Physician; William Burk, Market Master ; Benedict Waibel, Inspector Licenses, 
Weights and Measures ; F. R. Allen, Superintendent Workhouse ; Thomas M. 
Speers, Chief of Police; F. Foster, Chief of Fire Department. Councilmen: 
P. D. Etue, George W. McClelland, H. C. Morrison, J. N. DuBois, T. W. Butler, 
R. H. Maybury, L. A. Allen, John, Salisbury, Louis Dragon, T. B. BuUene, 
A. H. Glasner, Patrick Hickey. 

1880. — C. A. Chace, Mayor ; A. C. Walmsley, Treasurer; William Vincent, 
Auditor; H. Finney, Recorder; Thomas King, Attorney; M. Burk, Supervisor 
of Registration ; Wash Adams, Counselor ; John Donnelly, Engineer ; Nathan- 
iel Grant, Comptroller; V. D. Callahan, City Clerk; Thomas M. Speers, Chief 
of Police ; F. Foster, Chief of Fire Department ; Robert Salisbury, Assessor ; C. 
J. Jenkins, Physician; Adam Johns, Inspector of Licenses; J. J. Granfield, 
Market Master; F. R. Allen, Superintendent Workhouse. Councilmen: J. A. 
McDonald, T. B. Bullene, John Salisbury, George W. McClelland, W. J. Ross, J. 



50 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

N. DuBois, Patrick Hickey, J. N. Moore, R. H. Maybury, W. G. Duncan, Louis 
Dragon. 

1881. — Daniel A. Frink, Mayor; A. C. Walmsley, Treasurer; M. L. Sul- 
livan, Auditor ; John W. Childs, Recorder j W. J. Strong, Attorney ; M. H. 
Bass, Supervisor of Registration ; D. S. Twitchell, Counselor ; Nathaniel Grant, 
Comptroller; Robert Salisbury, Assessor; V. D. Callahan, City Clerk; John 
Donnelly, Engineer; A. A. Holmes, Assistant Engineer; John Fee, Physician; 
John J. Granfield, Market Master; B. Waibel, Inspector Licenses, Weights and 
Measures; Thomas C. Clary, Superintendent Workhouse; Thomas M. Speers, 
Chief of Police; F. Foster, Chief of Fire Department- Councilmen : W.J. Ross, 
J. M. Ford, J. A. McDonald, D. H. Porter, John W. Moore, James Anderson, 
L. A. Allen, John Salisbury, L. Dragon, B. A. Sheidley, W. G. Duncan, M. 
Gafney. 

REVIVING TIMES IN 1 853-4. 

During the years 1853-4, there was a material revival of confidence among 
the people of this locality. The cholera, which, it had been feared, would become 
an established disease, had failed to make its appearance since 1852. The Santa 
Fe trade was rapidly growing, and the settlement of the adjacent country made a 
larger local trade. The fact that this angle in the river was the nearest water 
transportation for all the Indian country irom the head of the Platte River round 
by the Rocky Mountains to the Cherokee country, caused the whole of the In- 
dian trade to come here, and at that time it had become very large. People be- 
gan to return, and others to make their homes here, and at last there began to be 
new hopes of realizing the bright promises of 1846 9. The next enumeration of 
the population, which was in 1855, showed a revival to 478, but business grew 
much faster than population. 

THE FIRST NEWSPAPER. 

As early as the year 1851 or 1852, there was an attempt made to establish a 
newspaper. A Mr. Kennedy undertook the enterprise, calling his paper the 
Public Ledger. It was not, however, a financial success, and after a vain struggle 
with the waves of adversity, Mr. Kennedy yielded, and the Public Ledger passed 
out of existence. The need of a paper to represent the interests of the new city, 
and properly chronicle local events, had become so apparent that the people in- 
terested in its welfare could not long do without one. Hence, after much talking 
about it among themselves, they finally held a meeting at the Union Hotel, now 
known as the old Gillis House, and determined that a paper must be had. A 
company was organized at that meeting, the capital stock was fixed at one thous- 
and dollars, and the larger part of it taken on the spot. The names of some of 
these subscribers were Wm. Gillis, W. S. Gregory, Northrup tS; Chick, M. J. 
Payne, Dr. B. Troost, E. M. McGee, Thompson McDaniel, and Robert Camp- 
bell. Dr. Troost, M. J. Payne and W. S. Gregory were elected trustees, with 
power to collect the subscriptions, purchase material, and start and manage the 
paper. M. J. Payne was deputed by his associates to do the most of the work. 
He went to St. Louis and purchased the material, and shipped it to Kansas City. 
About this time, Mr. D. K. Abeel made his appearance in Kansas City, and the 
trustees finding that he was a printer, engaged him to take mechanical and busi- 
ness charge of it. Wm. A. Strong, an attorney, was engaged to conduct the ed- 
itorial department. Its first appearance was in October, 1854, and, as it was 
deemed only an enterprise, it was given the name of the Kansas City Enterprise. 
This was the first permanently established newspaper in Kansas City. 

In 1857, its name was changed to Journal of Commerce., and is now known 
simply as The Journal. On the 15th of June, 1858, it appeared as a small morn- 
ing daily, the fourth daily in the Missouri Valley. Soon afterward, a telegraph 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 51 

line having been completed to Boonville, arrangements were made for dispatches 
by that line, and by express from Boonville to Kansas City. In its different 
editions prior to the war, it was the most active and wide-awake paper the writer 
has ever had the pleasure of examining; the fullest of local and business news, 
and the most devoted to the welfare of Kansas City. It was at once a faithful 
reflector of all local and business news, the leader and exponent of public com- 
mercial sentiment, and the fosterer of every public enterprise. 

In the summer of 1855, Col. R. T. Van Horn came to the city and pur- 
chased the Enterprise, of which he assumed control in October. He had 
previously lost an office, the Telegraph, at Pomeroy, Ohio, by fire, and for a 
year or two had been steamboating for a brother-in-law who was largely inter- 
ested in steamboat stocks. It was from this fact that he got the title of captain, 
by which he was generally known, until by military services in the late war he 
gained the one by which he is at present known. In the summer of 1855 he took 
a boat to St. Louis to sell, and while lying there for that purpose boarded at the 
Virginia hotel. Here he met William A. Strong, then editor of the Enterprise, 
who, learning that he was a printer and journalist, induced him to come to Kan- 
sas City. 

His purchase of the Enterprise was for one thousand dollars, one half cash 
and the balance on time. From its first issue under his management, it became 
an active, earnest and vigilant advocate of Kansas City's interests, and so far ex- 
ceeded the expectations of the old company that before the maturity of his notes 
they were canceled and presented to him. 

D. K. Abeel, Esq., who had been connected with the paper from the first as 
printer and business manager, soon afterward became associated with Col. 
Van Horn in the proprietorship, taking charge of the business affairs, into which 
department he infused that vigor and energy which at once put the paper on a 
sound and progressive financial basis. These two gentlemen have since been 
largely associated together in the paper in these respective capacities, each ably 
fulfilhng the promise of their early years. 

KANSAS CITY IN 1 854-5. 

At this time all there was of Kansas City was situated along the river front, 
except a few residences which had been built upon the hills overlooking the river. 
The levee was only about wide enough for a team to pass, jutting over a ledge of 
rocks into the river on the one side and rising hundreds of feet into bluffs on the 
other. Here and there excavations had been made into the hill, and business 
houses built. One of these houses was the Union Hotel (now Gillis House), 
built in 1849, and another Chick's warehouse, built in 1843. About the foot of 
Broadway, the bluffs, coming round in nearly a perpendicular wall from Turkey 
Creek, jutted into the river, and a wagon road wide enough for one wagon had 
been cut across it leading into the Kaw bottom, which was then a dense woods, 
except where the French traders had cleared off a few patches. The hills back of 
the levee were well covered with woods, except in the less broken portions where 
clearings had been made. A deep ravine, starting at the lower end of the levee, 
a little below the present foot of Grand avenue, wound around to the southwest, 
across the present market square, up by Delaware and Sixth street, and thence 
southeasterly to the Junction. 

There was a road up this ravine, over which the Santa Fe and other wagons 
passed, but with its precipitous banks on either side it was a bad road. It took 
the hill at a point near the junction of Main and Delaware streets, and crossed the 
creek south of the city, not far from the street railroad stables, going up the hill 
again toward Westport. A less inviting spot for town building it would be difficult 
to conceive. But from this great angle in the Missouri River was the best natural 
road to the southwest and west, and it was the highest point to which goods for 



52 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



the great Santa Fe and plains trade could be taken by boat, without increasing 
the cost of land transportation and incurring worse roads. This determined this 
locality as the starting point for that trade, while the unequaled river landing de- 
termined the exact spot whereon the transfer from boat to wagon should be made. 
These facts were then recognized, and with the beginning of the new era of 
activity, the plains trade previously done at Independence and Westport, centered 
entirely at Kansas City. Outfitting houses were opened and provision made for 
the outfitters, so that they no longer were compelled to go either to Independence 
or Westport. This trade, however, lasted but a few weeks in the spring while 
the trains were starting out, and a few weeks in the fall when they returned. At 
a later period the Enterprise, referring to this date, editorially, says : "Two years 
since, when we landed in Kansas City in the month of July, there was little or no 
business doing — two boilers, an engine, and a small lot of machinery, covered 
with a tarpauhn, was all there was to be seen on the levee. Business men in- 
formed us that the trade of the season was over ; that with the exception of a 
short time late in the fall no more would be done until next spring." 




Spalding's commercial college, Kansas city, mo. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 53 

CHAPTER VII. 
THE SETTLEMENT OF KANSAS. 

The Kansas- Nebraska Act— Preparations by Pio-Slavery and Anti-Slavery Parties to occupy Kan- 
sas — Early Settlement — Kansas City again Recognized — Developtnent oj Kansas — Navigation 
of the Kaw River — The Kansas Troubles — The Effect on Kansas City — Col. Coates. 

With the concentration of the Indian and Santa Fe trade at Kansas City, 
there was here a sufficient business to have made a town of ten or twelve thousand 
people, had there been no increase of business until the capabilities of the town 
had developed to an equality with it. But at this time other events were transpiring 
which were destined to give the place an unprecedented forward impulse. These 
were the events attending the organization of the Territories of Kansas and 
Nebraska, and the opening of them to settlement. These events, however, were 
attended with circumstances that made the settlement of Kansas troublous, which 
injuriously affected the development of the trade of the young city. 

The events leading to the organization of these Territories began as early as 
December 13, 1852, when Hon. Willard P. Hall of Missouri introduced into the 
House of Representative at Washington, a bill to organize the Territory of Platte, 
which was to embrace both Kansas and Nebraska. On the 2d of February, 1853, 
Hon. Wilham A. Richardson, of Illinois, introduced a bill for the organization 
of the Territory of Nebraska. Neither of these bills proposed to extend slavery 
into either of these Territories, as it was already excluded from the country em- 
braced in both by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. On the loth of February, 
Richardson's bill passed the House, and on the 17th it was reported in the Senate 
by Hon. Stephen A. Douglas. Nothing was done however before the adjourn- 
ment and expiration of that Congress. 

At the meeting of the next Congress, Hon. Augustus C. Dodge, of Iowa, 
introduced into the Senate a bill for the organization of Nebraska. This bill, 
like its predecessors, did not provide for slavery. On the 4th of January it was 
reported in the Senate by Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, and on the 23d of the same 
month Senator Douglas offered a substitute providing for the organization of the 
two Territories of Kansas and Nebraska and containing this significant clause : 

"That the Constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not 
locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory 
of Kansas as elsewhere within the United States, except the eighth section of 
the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved 
March sixth, eighteen hundred and twenty, which, being inconsistent with the 
principle of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States and Territo- 
ries, as recognized by the Legislature of eighteen hundred and fifty, commonly 
called the Compromise Measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void; it 
being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any 
Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof 
perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, 
subject only to the Constitution of the United States, provided, that nothing 
herein contained shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation 
which may have existed prior to the act of sixth of March, eighteen hundred and 
twenty, either protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery." 

This clause was the result of hostility, on the part of Senators and Represen- 
tatives for the slave States, to any bill looking to the extension of freedom in the 




LINDELL HOTEL, KANSAS CITY, MO. 
F. W. Poor, Proprietor. pij^h and Wyandotte Streets. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 55 

Territory of the United States, and its exemption of Kansas from the operations 
of the compromise measures referred to was regarded as significent of a determination 
on their part to make Kansas a slave Territory, and subsequently a slave State. This 
led to one of the most memorable contests in the history of the American Congress, 
during which were aroused those passions and sentiments and antagonisms which 
subsequently led to open conflict in Kansas, and, in less than ten years, to the 
most stupendous civil war in the history of man. 

This bill passed the Senate March 3rd, by a vote of thirty-seven to fourteen. 

The House passed it with amendments May 22nd, by a vote of 113 to 100, 
there being twenty-one members absent and not voting. It passed the Senate 
again without discussion, May 24th, by a vote of thirty-five to thirteen, and was 
signed by President Pierce May 30th. 

While these events were transpiring in Congress, the Indian titles were being 
extinguished to all save small reservations. The country became intensely ex- 
cited. It was understood on the part of the slave States, that Kansas was to be 
made slave, and the free States equally understood that such was the intention of 
the slave States, and there was an equal determination on their part that it should 
not be so. While the bills were pending in Congress, both parties in their re- 
spective localities were preparing for the expected struggle. The Pro-slavery 
party were open in their expressions of intentions to use force, if necessary to 
accomplish their purpose. To this end there began to be secret societies organ- 
ized in Missouri and throughout the slave States as early as February, 1854, called 
"Blue Lodges," " Society of Friends," "Sons of the South," "Social Bands," 
etc., the distinctive feature of which was a solemn oath to make Kansas slave 
territory at all hazards, and keep out by force, if necessary, the Abolitionists, 
as all opponents were opprobriously called. On the other hand, the Anti-Slavery 
party were less open in their boasts. If they had any intention of using force, 
that intention was not expressed ; but, depending upon the right of local settle- 
ment of the slavery question, they seemed to rely more upon the votes of larger 
numbers of immigrants ; and, therefore, took steps to fill Kansas with anti-slavery 
voters as speedily as possible. On the 26th of April the Massachusetts Emigrant 
Aid Society was organized by act of the Legislature of that State; in June an- 
other society was organized in that State, and on the 24th of July the New 
England Emigrant Aid Society was organized, in Boston. The purpose of these 
societies as expressed by their articles of agreement was to " assist emigrants to 
settle in the west," Kansas being the particular part of the west meant. 

THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

Such were the circumstances under which the settlement of Kansas was begun. 
As soon as the Territory was opened to settlement people began to flock in from 
the adjac nt parts of Missouri. The Leavenworth Town Company was organized 
at Weston, Mo., on the 13th of June, and the Atchison Town Company was 
organized in Missouri, on the 27th of July; and about these dates the sites of 
these two places were taken possession of by the Missourians who were determin- 
ed to make Kansas a slave Territory. 

The pioneer party of anti-slavery emigrants left Boston, July 17th, and 
arrived in Kansas City July 30th, under the lead of Charles H. Bramscomb. Dr. 
Charles Robinson and S. C. Pomeroy, since Governor and Senator respectively, 
of Kansas, came with this party. The first named of these gentlemen proceeded 
with the party into Kansas, arriving on the Wakarusa on the ist of August, near 
where they soon afterward founded a town, which, on October 6th, was called 
Lawrence, in honor of Amos J. Lawrence, of Boston, one of the principal bene- 
factors of the society. The other, Mr. Pomeroy, remained in Kansas City, and 
purchased the Union Hotel, (now the old Gillis House on the levee,) to be 
used as a rendezvous for immigrants, and agency of the society. Great excite- 



56 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

ment and enthusiam attended the movements of these societies in the east, and 
the immigrants were cheered on by orations from the leading men of that section, 
and by poems from the pens of such distinguished writers as Bryant, Whittier and 
Lucy Larcom. 

On the other hand, there was an equal excitement and enthusiasm on the 
part of the pro-slavery element, but it took the form of prevention of anti-slavery 
immigration, as much as that of fostering pro.slavery immigration. In July a 
number of meetings were held in Missouri, near the border, at which resolutions 
were adopted, to the effect that Kansas should be slave at all hazards, and that 
Abolitionists should receive no protection in the new Territory. The speeches 
made at these meetings were of a most inflammatory character. Missourians con- 
tinued to pour over the border in great numbers, but the emigrants from the east 
continued to arrive and unite with the Lawrence settlement with equal rapidity, 
and thus for a time Leavenworth and Atchison as pro-slavery, and Lawrence as 
anti-slavery, grew rapidly. The excitement along the border, meantime, was in- 
tense, and the friction between the settlers of the different parties in the Territory 
very great and very irritating. 

KANSAS city's LOCAL ADVANTAGES AGAIN. 

At the time these events were transpiring, steamboats were running freely on 
the Missouri River its whole navigable length, and being the only method of 
transportation at that time, other than stage coach across the State of Missouri or 
private wagons, offered equal facilities to all river towns. Independence and 
Westport had already been overcome by Kansas City, but Parkville, Weston and 
St. Joseph, all of about equal size with Kansas City, afforded equal advantages for 
immigrants with Kansas City, except on the one item of easy access to the new 
country. The new towns of Leavenworth and Atchison were also in the field, 
but aside from their newness, were lacking in this essential feature, also. Hence, 
while Missourians passed across the border at the nearest accessible ferry, the 
emigrants from the east came by way of Kansas City. Subsequently when 
parties began to come from the south, they came here also, and for the same 
reason. Thus the movement of population into this new country, like the Indian 
fur trade, the Santa Fe trade, and the late Indian trade, found this the line of 
least resistance and followed it. From the settlement of the new Territory, all 
the border towns, and especially the new Kansas towns of Leavenworth and 
Atchison, expected great advantages. However, owing to the facts and prin- 
ciples above mentioned, Kansas City, from the first, was most benefited. 

DEVELOPMENT OF KANSAS. "1 

The political antagonisms already mentioned were destined soon to affect 
materially and detrimentally the development of both Kansas and Kansas City, as 
the record of events will show. 

Hon. Andrew H. Reeder, of eastern Pennsylvania, was appointed first 
Governor of Kansas, June 29th, 1854. He took the oath of office in Washing- 
ton, July 7th, and arrived in Kansas, October 7th, temporarily establishing the 
executive office at Fort Leavenworth. He soon became aware, however, of the 
superior accessibility of the Territory from the mouth of the Kaw, and hence, 
November 24th, removed the executive office to Shawnee Mission, eight miles 
southwest of Kansas City, and on the road leading from this angle of the river 
into the Territory. 

One of his first official acts, while yet at Leavenworth, was to divide the 
Territory into sixteen election districts and order an election for delegate to 
Congress. This election occurred November 29th, and J. W. Whitfield, pro- 
slavery, was elected. This election was the occasion of the first invasion of 
Kansas by the people of other States, mainly from Missouri. They were deter- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 57 

mined to control the political affairs of the new Territory in the interests of slavery, 
and, to that cud, hundreds of them went into the Territory and voted, thus electing 
a pro-slavery delegate to Congress. These events aroused the bitterest feelings 
of the free-state people in the Territory, and led to the holding of free-state 
meetings for the purpose of organization. The first of these meetings was held at 
Lawrence, December 23d, and on the first of February following (1855), the Free 
State Society was organized at Lawrence. 

On the 8th of March, 1855, Governor Reeder issued a proclamation order- 
ing an election for members of the Legislature, March 30th. This election was 
the occasion of another and larger invasion from Missouri, the pro-slavery people 
of this State being, by this time, most thoroughly aroused by the free-state move- 
ments in Kansas, and determined, at all hazards, to make Kansas a slave Territory. 
The excitement along the border and throughout Missouri was at this time intense, 
and public meetings were of frequent occurrence. At these meetings speeches 
of the most inflammatory character were made, and resolutions adopted strongly 
denouncing the Abolitionists, and justifying any means that might be adopted 
for their extermination. 

The election of the 30th of March resulted in the election of a pro-slavery 
body, the Missourians attending and voting by the thousands. Its first session 
was held at Pawnee, a new town adjoining the Fort Riley military reservation, 
whither the executive office had been removed by Governor Reeder, June 27th. 
The Legislature met here, July 2d, as ordered by the Governor, and immediately 
adjourned to meet at Shawnee Mission, July 16. Here the first session was held, 
and the first code of laws adopted for Kansas. These laws were largely copied 
from the Missouri statutes, but the provisions for the protection of slave property 
were more stringent than were ever enacted before. This law made it a penal 
offense to deny the right to hold slaves in Kansas, or to have in possession books 
or papers that denied such rights. It required all officers of the Territory and 
counties, judges and clerks of election, and all lawyers practicing at the bar, to take 
an oath to support the fugitive slave law ; and made ineligible as jurors, in cases 
where any questions affecting slaves or slavery was to be decided, all persons who 
did not believe in that institution. It was provided, also, that all officers of the 
Territory, and of the counties, were to be appointed by the Legislature, or by 
some officer appointed by it, and at subsequent elections for members of the 
Legislature, judges and clerks and voters, if challenged, were required to take an 
oath to support the fugitive slave law. The effect of these laws was, of course, 
to prevent free-state men from holding office and to disfranchise them, while any 
manifestation of anti-slavery tendencies, even to the extent of reading an anti- 
slavery paper, was a penal offense, and subjected the offender to liability to 
imprisonment at hard labor and in chains. Before this Legislature adjourned it 
fixed the permanent seat of government at Lecompton. Governor Reeder having 
previously located the seat of government at Pawnee, held that this Legislature 
had no right, under the act of Congress, to sit elsewhere, and could not enact 
valid laws elsewhere. His refusal to recognize the Legislature led to his removal 
by the President, who was in sympathy with it and not with him. Notice of his 
removal was communicated to him August i6th, when Mr. Secretary of State 
Woodson became acting Governor. 

PAWNEE NAVIGATION OF THE KAW. 

The town of Pawnee, as above stated, was located on lands adjoining the 
Fort Riley military reservation, which was within a few miles of the junction of 
the Republican and Smoky Hill Rivers, which form the Kaw. It was a free- 
state town, and hence soon became the object of hostility of the Pro-Slavery party 
and of the President, so in the summer of 1855, Jefferson Davis, then Secretary 
of War, issued an order so extending the military reservation as to include the 



58 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



site, and in the fall of that year Col. Cooke, of the army, drove off the settlers 
and destroyed the houses. 

The motives that prompted Gov. Reader to locate the seat of Government 
at this point cannot be definitely stated, but he was doubtless influenced largely 
by the idea that the Kaw River could be navigated with steamboats to that 
point, which would make it a commercial center and distributing point. The 
steamer Excel made a trip on the Kaw in the spring of 1855, prior to the loca- 
tion of the seat of government of Pawnee, and in May the steamers Emma 
Harmon. Financier No. 2, and Hartford went as far up as Lawrence, Gov. 
Reeder has always been credited with the inaugurating this enterprise. While he 
was Governor he caused two engineering parties to be sent to examine the Kaw, 
one from Fort Riley to Tecumseh and the other from Tecumseh to the mouth of 
the stream. He is credited also with having invested money in the boats. 

In 1855 the Excel and several other small boats plied irregularly on the 
Kaw and with such success that in December of that year a company was formed, 
and several boats built for that trade. Those mentioned as plying on the river 
in 1856-7, were the Excel, Kate Cassel, T^inancier, Emma Harmon, Express, 
Lightford, Wa-tos sa, and Lizzie, the latter of which was built at Kansas City 
and afterward employed as a ferry boat. The navigation of the Kaw was then 
regarded as successful, though the boats did not run regularly. In 1859, how- 
ever, two boats ran most of the season as a regular line, but the river appears to 
have been abandoned after that, though they were said to have found no difficulty 
in navigating it. These boats were Silver Lake and Gus Linn. 

URMOIL IN KANSAS. 

The course that was being pursued by the Pro-Slavery party, the invasions of 
the Territory at elections by Missourians, the manifest tendencies of the Legisla- 
ture, together with a spirit of intimidation on the part of the Pro-Slavery party, 
became very exasperating to the Free-State party and they began movements, look- 
ing to assistance. On the 14th and 15th of August, 1855, a convention of free- 
state men was held at Lawrence, at which they adopted resolutions setting forth 
that Kansas was without any legal law-making powers, and recommending the 
holding of a convention of bona fide citizens at Topeka, September 13th, for the 
purpose of consulting upon all matters affecting public interest but specially the 
propriety of State organization. This was followed by another similar meeting at 
Big Springs, September 5th, at which was formulated the platform of the Free 
State party. The proposed convention at Topeka received the indorsement of 
this meeting and immediately steps were taken by the Free State party to raise 
delegates for such convention, and it was held. It provided for the election of 
delegates to a constitutional convention at Topeka, which election was held, only 
free state men voting, October 9th; and the convention met October 23rd and 
formulated a constitution which was submitted to the people and adopted Decem- 
ber 15th, only free-state men voting. Under this State organization Dr. Charles 
Robinson, of Lawrence, was elected Governor, at an election held January 15, 
1856 ; W. G. Roberts, Lieut. Governor; P. C. Schuyler, Secretary of State; C. 
A. Cutter, Auditor; J. A. Wakefield, Treasurer; H. Miles Moore, Attorney- 
General ; M. F. Conway, S. N. Latta and M. Hunt, Supreme Judges. 

Meanwhile, the Pro-Slavery party were far from being inactive. Wilson 
Shannon, of Ohio, was appointed Governor to succeed Gov. Reeder, Aug. loth, 
1855, and arrived at Kansas City, Sept. ist. He was fully in sympathy with the 
Pro-Slavery party, and at once established the executive office at Lecompton. 
Prior to his arrival, however, the Pro-Slavery party, through Acting-Gov. Wood- 
son, began preparations for military operations, and a long line of generals and 
colonels were appointed. The independent attitude of the free state men, and 
the large accessions to that class of population from the east, rendered it neces- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 59 

sary, in the judgment of the Pro-Slavery party, to prepare for the use of force, to 
hold the Territory against them. 

Meanwhile, public feeling was intensely excited and feverish, and there began 
to be personal collisions and murders. On the 21st of November, Charles W. 
Dow, a free-state man residing with Jacob Branson, at Hickory Point, near Law- 
rence, was killed by FrankUn N. Coleman, a pro-slavery man. The next day 
there was a meeting of the free-state men at the scene of the murder, and that 
night S. J. Jones, pro-slavery postmaster at Westport, Mo., who had been ap- 
pointed sheriff of Douglas county, Kansas, arrested Branson for taking part in the 
meeting. This was the beginning of efforts to enforce the laws against free-state 
men. On his way to Lecompton, Jones was overhauled by a party of free-state 
men, and Branson was liberated. Jones sent to Shawnee Mission, where Gov. 
Shannon was at the time, for aid, and the people of Lawrence, fearing a raid from 
Missouri, began to gather their forces for the impending struggle. A public meet- 
ing was held and the citizens were placed underarms, and neighboring settlements 
of free-state people were notified and began to arm. On the 27th, Sheriff Jones 
informed Gov. Shannon that open rebellion existed at Lawrence, and Gov. Shan- 
non directed Maj.-Gen. W. P. Richardson, of the militia, to collect as large a 
force as he could, and proceed to the assistance of Jones. The next day he 
notified the President of a fearful state of affairs, saying, "It is vain to conceal 
the fact; we are standing on a volcano." The same day Lucian J. Easton, 
Brigadier-General, ordered his brigade under arms, affirming that a state of open 
rebellion existed in Douglas county. 

Early in December indictments were found against the leading free-state 
men by the courts setting at Lecompton. Companies of free-state men gathered 
at Lawrence from Bloomington, Wakarusa, Palmyra and Topeka, and the pro- 
slavery militia began to collect at Franklin, a few miles below, and at Lecompton, 
a few miles above, while a party of Platte county, Mo., Riflemen appeared on the 
opposite side of the Kaw River. Gov. Shannon applied to Col. Sumner, com- 
manding at Fort Leavenworth, for United States troops to suppress the Lawrence 
rebellion, but Col. Sumner would not act without orders from Washington. By 
the 6th of December, one thousand five hundred Missourians had collected at 
Franklin, and that day Thos. W. Barber was shot and killed by pro-slavery men 
while returning to Bloomington from Lawrence. On the 7th, Gov. Shannon vis- 
ited Lawrence, and on the 8th concluded a treaty of peace with Gov. Robinson, 
Gen. J. H. Lane and other leaders, and on the 9th ordered the militia disbanded. 

Thus ended the first struggle, but it seemed only to intensify the bitterness of 
the antagonism already existing. Besides the killing of Barber, trains of provis- 
ions from Kansas City to Lawrence had been stopped and robbed by the Pro- 
Slavery party, and when peace was concluded, it was no peace, but the turmoil 
continued, and the country became infested with lawless bands and individuals, 
and life and property became unsafe. It was soon apparent to both sides that the 
planting of freedom or slavery in Kansas was to be attended with bloodshed, and 
both parties began to prepare for that result. 

During the winter some of the Southern States appropriated money to send 
men to Kansas, and parties began to be made up, all of which were armed for 
the fray and organized into military companies. At the same time the Free-State 
party sent men to plead their cause in the Northern States, and to ask for aid in 
men and money, both of which were freely given in various ways. The prospect 
for the coming spring was anything but peaceful. 

THE EFFECT ON KANSAS CITY. 

As already stated, Kansas City became the gateway to Kansas with the be- 
ginning of the settlement of that Territory. Its relations to the new population 
were, therefore, so intimate that such a state of affairs as is briefly sketched above 



60 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

could not exist in the new Territory without being reflected in the affairs of Kan- 
sas City. The hopes of trade from the new population were delayed in their 
realization by the troubled state of affairs ; and as it was the place of debarkation 
for both pro-slavery and anti-slavery immigrants, it became disturbed by the dis- 
turbance across the border. Besides this, the Kansas struggle was otherwise ex- 
ceedingly depressing to Kansas City, though she still prospered and continued to 
grow. It retarded the Santa Fe trade and nearly cut off the plains trade. It 
was previously the custom of Indian agents to bring the annuity money due the 
Indians to Kansas City, and take it thence to the agencies without a guard; but 
during this trouble a strong guard had to be sent out with it. The local trade 
with Kansas towns suffered equally, and from the same causes. It was unsafe to 
ship goods through the Territory because of roving bands, who, upon political 
pretexts, managed to do so large an amount of robbing that they assumed more 
the character of banditti. 

The towns of Leavenworth, Lawrence and Atchison were rapidly settled, 
and soon overtook Kansas City in population. Then Leavenworth became a 
strong competitor for the western trade. And in this contest, with about equal 
population, she was strengthened materially by the fact that government roads 
were made from there, by a requirement on the part of the Government that its 
own freight should be transported from that place, and by a State pride hostile to 
building up a town in Missouri. During the memorable contest in that young 
State in 1855 and 1856, this feeling ran so high that in the disorganized and an- 
archical condition of affairs, trains leaving Kansas City were frequently guarded. 
Notwithstanding all these impediments, Kansas City held the trade ; it was found 
after awhile that it was impossible to transfer it to Leavenworth. The roads di- 
verging from thence were rough and the streams unbridged and impassable. After 
the new route was laid out from Leavenworth by United States authority, 
and upon the prestige that gave her a few Santa Fe traders were induced to start 
their trains from there, but when they reached the Kaw River they found it im- 
passable, and had to return to the mouth of the stream and get a ferryboat from 
Kansas City to cross them, when they took the old accustomed trail. 

THE TROUBLES OF 1 856. 

The events of the spring of 1856 fully realized the sad expectations of all 
parties. Immigration continued to pour in from the east, and as early as March 
nearly every boat on the Missouri River was searched for articles which the pro- 
slavery men had pronounced contraband, and free-state emigrants were robbed 
and sent back. In April, Maj. Buford arrived ui Kansas City with a large body 
of armed men from Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina In May, Gov. 
Robinson, Geo. W. Smith, Geo. W. Deitzler and other free-state men were ar- 
rested for treason under the stringent laws of the Territory. An attempt was 
made to arrest Ex-Gov. Reeder, who had remained in Kansas and taken an active 
part in free-state movements, but he made his escape to Kansas City where he 
was secreted at the American Hotel (now old Gillis House) by the Eldridges, who 
then kept it, and from there he made his way in disguise as a laborer and on 
the deck of a steamboat to Illinois. 

The District Court sitting at Lecompton, declared the Free State Hotel, at 
Lawrence, and the Herald of Freedom and Kansas Free State nuisances, and 
ordered their distruction. This order was executed May 21st, by a large party of 
pro-slavery men under direction of Sheriff Jones. These men were mostly 
southern men, who had come to Kansas in armed companies for the purpose of 
driving free-state men from the Territory, and were commanded by Col. H. T. 
Titus, of Virginia. After the distruction of the hotel an,d newspaper offices, the 
stores were robbed and much property ruthlessly destroyed. This led to retalia- 
tion by the free-state men, and Kansas was soon filled with small armed parties 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 61 

of all kinds, the most prominent among which was John Brown's Free-State party. 
During all this season, parties of armed men continued to arrive from the south, 
some of whom remained in Kansas City, but most of whom made their headquar- 
ters at Westport and from thence projected incursions into Kansas. One of these 
parties was led by H. Clay Pate, a citizen of Westport, who at one time captured 
two of John Brown's sons, and who was himself captured by John Brown's party. 
Another was led by Gen. J. W. Reid of this city, and another by Col. 
E. M. McGee, of this city, besides those led by Buford of Georgia, Titus of Vir- 
ginia, Whitfield, Coleman, Bell, Jenigen and others. Besides John Brown's Free- 
State party already mentioned, there were others led by Shore, Walker, CrockUn, 
Abbott, Cook and Hopkins. There was also an occasional infusion of United 
States troops, under command of Col. Sumner and Maj. Sedgwick, when called 
upon by Gov. Shannon to suppress violence and restore order ; and in August 
Gen. J. H. Lane added materially to the free-state forces by bringing in a party 
of emigrants through Iowa and Nebraska, all free state immigration through Mis- 
souri having been stopped. Fights and battles and routs between the contesting 
parties were of frequent occurrence. Thus while Kansas was being filled with 
people, it was being overrun with armed bands, and industry and trade were 
depressed. To add to the horrors of the situation, the season was unfavorable 
for farmers, and before the close of the year the people had to be aided by relief 
sent to them from the east. In August, Gov. Shannon was removed and Gov. 
Geary appointed in his place who continued in ofifice until March, 1857, when 
he was succeeded by Robert J. Walker of Mississippi. This disturbed situation 
continued until the fall of 1857, when, at the October election. Gov. Walker 
maintained peace sufficiently to admit of a tolerably free ballot of bona fide votes, 
which resulted in free-state triumph, after which the contest was abandoned by 
the Pro-Slavery party so far as armed effort was concerned. While these troubles 
continued, they were exceedingly dispressing to Kansas City. The people of 
Kansas City with few exceptions were in sympathy with the Pro-Slavery party, 
but still had little sympathy with the methods employed by it. They wanted the 
trade of the new population, and were averse to methods that disturbed society 
and deprived them of it. 

COL. KERSEY COAXES. 

At this time. Col. Kersey Coates was a very important man in Kansas City- 
He was then, as now, a man of more than ordinary det^mination of character* 
cool, courageous, and active, and the leading free-state man in Kansas City- 
He came to Kansas in the fall of 1854 as an agent for a party of Philadelphia 
capitalists, to buy lands and make investments where, in his judgment, it was 
most profitable to make them. He first went to Leavenworth and then to Law- 
rence, looking over the field for investments, and finally came to Kansas City. 
With that far seeing judgment for which he has since become distinguished, 
he selected this place for his investments, and in the spring of 1855 purchased 
large amounts of land adjoining this city, and took up his residence at the 
American hotel. At the time of which we now write, he was counsel for Gov. 
Robinson and the prisoners confined with him at Lecompton for treason, and 
was a bold outspoken free-state man in a community overrun with border rufiiaus. 
The people of Kansas City, though perhaps little in sympathy with his political 
views, regarded him as an important tie between them and the people of Kansas, 
and looked to him largely for the efibrts and measures which were to bring them 
the trade of the new Territory. He was thus supported by them, and in a meas- 
ure protected against the pro-slavery men from the south, who soon came to 
regard him as a most dangerous man for their cause, and who would gladly have 
kidnapped or killed him if they had felt it safe to do so. Afterward, when the 
tide turned against them, several of them had to appeal to him for protection. 



62 



HJSTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



but, it is needless to say, never got it when inconsistent with the peace and good 
order of society. 

In the fall of 1856, he visited Washington in behalf of the free-state prisoners 
confined at Lecompton, charged with treason under the laws at that time prevail- 
ing in Kansas. During his absence the pro-slavery men had determined upon 
kidnapping and perhaps killing him on his return. He was met at St. Louis by 
pro-slavery men from Kansas City and warned of his danger, which shows the 
esteem in which he was held by men who, though opposed to him in pohtics, 
admired his influence in commercial affairs. He spent the winter in Wisconsin 
where he procured appropriations from the State Legislature for the relief of citizens 
of Wisconsin living in Kansas, the object being understood to be the strengthen- 
ing of the free-state forces for the portending struggle of 1S57. 

Another man who deserves special mention here was J. P. Howe, the city 
marshal. He was cool and fearless, and when v/arrants were placed in his hands 
diected against any of the lawless peace disturbers from the south, never flinched 
in his duty. Many interesting incidents are told of his affairs with these men, many 
of which were exciting at the time and are amusing now. 




GRIMES BUILDING, KANSAS CITY, MO. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 63 

CHAPTER VIII. 
THE GROWTH OF KANSAS CITY PRIOR TO THE WAR. 

Improvements of Streets and Roads — Trade and Steamboats — Rival Cities — Rapid Growth of Kan- 
sas City — Stages and Mails — The Commerce of the Prairies — The First Banks, Jobbing 
Houses and Telegraph — The First Commercial Organization — The Panic of iS^j — The En- 
largement of the City. 

Notwithstanding the troubles in Kansas, and the hatred thereby engendered, 
on the part of free-state people toward all Missourians and Missouri towns, Kan- 
sas City gained considerable advantage from the settlement of the Territory while 
these troubles were pending, and after their close, in 1857, experienced an era of 
remarkable development and growth. 

COUNTY ROADS AND STREET IMPROVEMENTS. 

A matter of profound interest to Kansas City, during these years, and until 
1 86 1, was wagon roads to the country, and it was much discussed. This being 
the only means of reaching the trade of the rapidly settling new territory, Leav- 
enworth, Atchison, Lawrence, St. Joseph, Independence, Westport, and even 
Boonville, attempted to gain a share or a monopoly of it, by improving roads. 
Kansas City dared not be behind. But in this contest, Leavenworth and Law- 
rence were the principal competitors, St, Joseph and Boonville being too far 
away, while Independence and Westport were so near that her superior land- 
ing placed them at a disadvantage. Kansas City had the advantage of a bottom 
road up the Kaw Valley, and a divide road to southern Kansas, hence her work 
was mostly to be done near home. The Shawnee road and bridge across Turkey 
Creek were opened in 1858. A better road to Westport, through which all 
freight, mails and emigrants went from Kansas City, began to be agitated in Feb- 
ruary, 1856. The road was improved somewhat, but in July, 1857, a company 
was formed to macadamize it. The work commenced in September, but was so 
much delayed that it was not finally completed before the war. 

The importance of street improvements began to be agitated in the winter of 
1856-7. Colonel M. J. Payne had been elected mayor in the spring of 1855, 
which position he held until the spring of i860. In 1855, under his administra- 
tion, the edge of the bluff was cut away, and the levee widened and paved for 
about a quarter of a mile, and during the two or three succeeding years, Second, 
Third, Fourth and Fifth streets were graded, and also Broadway, Wyandotte, 
Delaware, Main and Market streets (Grand avenue), from the river back to Fifth. 
In the fall of 1859, an ordinance was passed for macadamizing Main street. The 
Court House on the square was built in 1856, by J. W. Amnions, contractor, 
the commencement being made October 30th ; but the market house, which was 
intended to accompany it, was not built until i860. 

TRADE OF 1856-7 THE STEAMBOAT BUSINESS. 

The Journal of Commerce, at a later period, estimated that the trade of Kan- 
sas City during these two years did not exceed two million of dollars, but with 
the close of the struggle, in 1857, the country filled up speedily, the trade was en- 
larged, and the city grew rapidly. The Santa Fe trade prospered, and the plains 
trade resumed more than its former proportions, while the trade developed 
by the settlement of southern Kansas all came to Kansas City, and with that and 
the outfitting of immigrants, her business became very great, so much so that a 



64 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

correspondefit of the St. Louis Intelligencer noticed that she had the largest trade 
of any city of her size in the world, and was the point at which all freight and 
immigrants for Kansas disembarked. Tht Journal of Commerce, at one time during 
these years, described the appearance of the levee as that of a great fair, it was 
so piled up with all kinds of merchandise. 

This was the great steamboat era on the Missouri River, and everything that 
entered the upper country then came by boat. In the year 1857 there were a 
hundred and twenty-five boats at the Kansas City levee, and they discharged 
over seventy-five million pounds of merchandise. There were then a fleet of 
sixty through boats from St. Louis, and a daily railroad packet leaving the termi- 
nus of the Missouri Pacific at Jefferson City, Kansas City was then said by boat- 
men to be receiving more freight than any other five points on the river. In May, 
1857, the boats were employed to carry the mails, which they continued to do 
until superseded by railroads. 

In August, 1857, the packet company made this their terminal point, and all 
freight for ports higher up the river was transferred here to another line of boats, 
and tickets were sold by the stage lines through Kansas accordingly. After the 
completion of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad to St. Joe, which occurred 
March i, 1859, a line of boats were put on the river between St. Joseph and 
Kansas City, as an extension of the shipping facilities of that line to the natural 
point of distribution. 

RIVAL CITIES. 

By reason of the excitement about Kansas, and the consequent large immi- 
gration, Leavenworth, Lawrence and Atchison got about an even start with Kan- 
sas City, so far as population was concerned, and at once entered the lists as 
competitors for the local trade of Kansas and the trade of the plains and New 
Mexico. The natural asperities of this rivalry were much intensified by the Kansas 
troubles. The Missouri border having been the base of operations of the 
border ruffians, was held in great detestation by the free-state men of Kan- 
sas, and when that party finally triumphed in the Territory it gave great advantage 
to Kansas towns. The feeling was very bitter toward Kansas City, for she being 
the center of trade on the border and their only formidable rival, she was made 
the object of all their antagonisms. Prompted by State pride, commercial jealousy, 
and political hatred of border ruffians, every effort was made that could be to 
divert this trade from her. Roads were laid out and made ; their own advant- 
ages were industriously and extensively advertised throughout the north and east, 
and attempts made to create a public impression that Kansas City was an unsafe 
place to ship merchandise to, or for free-state people to stop at. During the 
border troubles of 1 85 5-6, armed bands met wagons and teams on the prairies 
and forbade their coming to Kansas City, and agents were sent down the river to 
represent to people coming up on the boats that Kansas City was unsafe for 
themselves or their freight. To such an extent was this carried that at one time, 
in 1856, a party, claimed to be these agents, broke up a piano box on our levee, 
and the fact was widely published as an evidence that merchandise or freight con- 
signed to Kansas City was not safe. 

RAPID GROWTH AND TRADE OF KANSAS CITY. 

Notwithstanding these facts, Kansas City grew rapidly. There was a great 
demand for mechanics to build houses. Houses were scarce at all times, and at 
times rented for more per annum than their original cost. Many additions were 
added to the city, among them McGee's addition ; and Col. McGee advertised 
it so extensively and sold lots on such favorable terms to those who would build, 
that it improved rapidly and soon became a considerable town in itself. It then 
got the name of "The Addition," by which that part of town was known as 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 65 

separate from the city proper, and it retains that distinction yet. In 1858 (Oct. 
20) there was a great sale of lots, the result of a combination of property owners, 
after extensive advertising. 

The details of the improvement of this period cannot be given, but it was a 
time of great commercial excitement and prosperity. In August, 1857, The 
Journal made the following statement of progress from May ist. It was about a 
sample of the five years : 

HOUSES BUILT. 

City proper — 

2, 3 and 4 story bricks 97 

1, 2 and 3 story frames .184 

In Addition — 

2, 3 and 4 story bricks 31 

I, 2 and 3 story frames 284 

Total 527 

VALUE OF REAL ESTATE. 

May I. Aug. 23. 

Levee lots, each $250 $ 400 

Other city lots 500 iioo 

Addition, on the avenue 500 900 

Addition, other streets 250 500 

During the same time there were 13,440 wagons loaded for the plains, em- 
ploying 20,160 men and 36,960 animals, and carrying 40,976,000 pounds of 
freight. There were also received from the plains 27,000 buffalo robes, 131,000 
pounds of hides, 19,000 pounds of pelts, 40,000 pounds of wool, and furs to the 
value of $19,000. The mercantile business of the city for that time was, city 
proper, $1,075,000; addition, $50,00 >. 

Population increased equally rapid, and so, also, did taxable wealth, as 
will be seen in the subjoined table. 

1855 

t857 

1859 

In the year 1859 there was expended in street improvements: Delaware 
^street, $14,000; Walnut, $3,600; Main, $300; Belvue, $900; Broadway, $600; 
Sixth, $1,000; Third, $400, and Fourth, $1,000. Total — $28,100. 

The progress of the trade during the years 1857 to i860 cannot be better 
illustrated than in the following synopsis of the Journal's Annual Review. The 
mercantile trade of 1856 is stated at $1,150,000, but more detailed statements 
were made for the following years : 

1857. 1858. 1859*. i860. 

Merchandise $3,185,502 $3,232,321 $2,488,001 $4,273,835 

Warehousing 545,020 116,983 2,675,930 164,600 

Live Stock 2,148,200 2,241,217 110,099 455:^75 

Brick No 84,578 96,000 6,000,000 5,000,000 

Exports 1,767,761 2,018,045 .... 286,801 

Building .... 346,770 191,896 

Manufactures .... 130,000 147,140 

*Owing to the absence of the editor no Annual Review was compiled by the Journal for 1859, but one 
was compiled by the Metropolitan, and published by the Journal, with the criticism that it was erroneous in 
many particulars. These statements, however, were but the closest approximates that could be made, and 
though that one may not fully represent the business of the year, it seems to show that it was progressing. 



Pop. 


Assessm't. 


478 


$ 54,000 


3>224 


1,200,000 


7,180 


3,311,730 



66 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

STAGES AND MAILS. 

During these years, 1857-60, stage lines were established from Kansas City 
to Fort Scott, Lawrence and Topeka, Leavenworth and Atchison, and to St. 
Joseph, with perhaps some others. Westport was for a long time mail head- 
quarters for all the West and South, and stages in these directions had to go by 
way of Westport until the mail facilities at that place were extended to Kansas 
City. A mail line already extended to Santa Fe. In the summer of 1858 Col. 
Jacob Hall, of Jackson county, effected a contract with the Government for 
carrying the mail from Kansas City to Stockton, California, and the line with 
stages was opened October ist, by Porter, Irwin & Co. 

COMMERCE OF THE PLAINS. | 

The trade with Mexico became much larger after the close of the Kansas 
troubles, and in 1857 wool was added to the other articles — gold and silver, pre- 
viously imported from there. The first considerable consignment of this article 
was to Chas. E. Kearney, who, in 1857, had removed from Westport to Kansas City. 
The Chicks and others soon followed, and the trade became quite an item in Kansas 
City's commerce. There was at this time a large increase in the mountain trade, 
and the amount of furs, peltries, etc., brought in by the mountaineers was largely 
augmented. Kansas City was, from i8'2i, the headquarters of this class of men. 
They always came here to settle up old engagements, make new contracts, market 
their furs, and look up old friends. In 1858 gold was discovered in Colorado, 
and immediately there set in a large immigration to that country. It was then a 
part of Kansas Territory. By this time it had become evident that though the 
cities in Kansas had had about an even start with Kansas City, and some of them, 
Leavenworth particularly, had outgrown her in population, that the Santa Fe 
trade and the mountain trade could not be diverted from her, and that had been 
about given up. 

The contest for Kansas trade was still raging, with the balance turning more 
and more each year in favor of Kansas City, because of her superior commercial 
facilities at that time. But with the discovery of gold at the foot of Pike's Peak, 
there was a new contest opened. Leavenworth, Atchison, St. Joseph, Nebraska 
City and Omaha, all entered the list of competition, each hoping to attract it to 
herself, and upon its stimulus gain the ascendancy. Each had its own route. 
Those of Nebraska City and Omaha united at Fort Kearney and proceeded 
up the Platte Valley. Atchison and St. Joseph finally adopted the same route, 
which gave Nebraska City the advantage of all of them. Leavenworth undertook 
to open a route by the Smoky Hill valley, but in i860 it had to be abandoned, 
and she opened a road to the Kaw River, a few miles west of Kansas City, where 
a bridge was built to enable her to get across to the old Santa Fe trail, 7>ia Council 
Grove and the Valley of the Arkansas, which was Kansas City's route. The con- 
test waged long and bitterly, but the superiority of Kansas City's river landing, 
the boating arrangements of the Missouri, and the superiority of the Arkansas 
Valley route, with the earlier and later season, gave Kansas City advantages that 
secured her the larger part of the trade. In i860 the New York Herald sent a 
correspondent to the west to write up the great plains' commerce, which was then 
so great au attraction to the whole country. He made a careful examination into 
the whole subject, noted the fact that Kansas City held the lead, that people from 
all parts of the west — even to Central Iowa — came here to make their start upon 
the great plains. He also collected and tabulated the trade of that year, and as 
nothing can better exhibit the then relative standing of the Missouri Valley cities, 
we subjoin it : 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 
NEW YORK "herald's" STATEMENT 1860. 



67 



CITIES 


MEN. 


HORSES. 


MULES. 


OXEN. 


WAGONS. 


Kansas City. . 
Leavenworth . 
Atchison.. . . 
St. Joseph . . 
Nebraska City . 
Omaha .... 




7,084 
1,216 

1,591 
490 

896 
324 


464 

377 


6,149 
206 
472 

520 

113 
114 


27,920 

10,952 

13,640 

3.980 

11,118 

340 


3.033 
1,003 

1,280 

418 

912 

276 




Total .... 


11,603 


844 


7.574 


67.950 


6,922 



freights 1860. 

From — Weight. 

Kansas City 16,439,134 

Leavenworth 5,656,082 

Atchison 6,097,943 

St. Joseph 1,672,000 

Nebraska City 5,946,000 

Omaha 713,000 



Total 36,074,159 

BANKS, ETC. 

The first banking establishment in Kansas City was established in 1856 by 
Messrs. Coates and Hood, in connection with their real estate business. It con- 
tinued in operation for several years. In 1857 Messrs. Northrup & Co., after- 
ward Northrup & Chick, established a banking house which continued until 
1864, when it was transferred to J. Q. Watkins & Co., and Messrs. Northrup & 
Chick went to New York. The next was a branch of the Mechanics' Bank of 
St. Louis. It was organized May i, 1859, and opened for business in June. 
The directors were J. P. Wheeler, Kersey Coates, Dr. J. Lykins, Jos. C. Ranson, 
F. Conant, Wm. Gillis, J. C. McCoy, J. Riddlesbarger and W. J. Jarboe. Dr. 
Lykins was president. Col. E. C. McCarty cashier and Lewis Ramage attorney. 

The second bank was a branch of the Union bank, which was organized in 
July, 1859, and opened for business in August. The directors were H. M. Nor- 
thrup, C. E. Kearney, Thos. A. Smart, VV. H. Chick, Thos. Johnson, N. T. 
Wheatley, Joab Bernard, Alex. Street and Edward T. Perry. H. M. Northrup 
was president and John S. Harris cashier. 

The first jobbing dry goods house was opened by J. Wise and Co., in July, 
1857. The first city loan for local improvements was made in 1855, and amount- 
ed to $10,000, and was all taken at home. This money was expended by Mayor 
Payne mostly on the levee. In 1858 another loan of $100,000 was made for 
street improvements, but there was so much delay in placing it that little good re- 
sulted from it until 1859. 

In 1858 Charles M. Stebbins, president of the Missouri River Telegraph 
Company, whose line was then in operition to Booaville, sent the people a prop- 
osition to extend it to Kansas City. The aid asked was $2,500, which he proposed 
to repay in telegraphing. The aid was promptly .given, and the line extended, 
reaching Kansas City, Dec. 20th. 

In June, 1858, the Metropolitan newspaper was established by Bates & Gilson. 
In January, 1859, the Missouri Post, the first German paper made its appearance, 
with Mr. Pienner editor, and A. Wuerz proprietor, and in i860 the daily Enquirer 
was established. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 69 

COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATION THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 

The first attempt at commercial organization was in 1856, when the mer- 
chants established what they called the Board of Trade. It was manifestly too 
early to attempt anything like a daily exchange, so the Board of Trade took the 
form of a voluntary, association, with little, if any organization, and the only ob- 
ject of its meetings was to exchange views about things generally, and in some 
sense maintain uniformity of prices among merchants. 

The need of a more vigorous organization of this kind — one that should ex- 
ercise a general care over the commercial interests of the city — soon became ap- 
parent, and hence an association was formed under the name of the Chamber of 
Commerce, which was chartered by the Legislature Nov. 9th, 1857. Dr. Johnston 
Lykins, W. A. Hopkins, John Johnson, M. J. Payne, Thos. H. Swope, S. W. 
Bouton, Kersey Coates, Jos. C. Ranson, E. C. McCarty, H. M. Northrup, H. 
H. King, J. M. Ashburn, Wm. Gillis, Dr. BenoistTroost, John Campbell and R. 
G. Stephens were the corporators. Others afterward became connected with 
it, among whom were R. T. Van Horn, T. S. Case. Dr. D. Y. Chalfant and Ermine 
Case, and perhaps some others. This organization continued until the rebellion 
broke it up, and though its records are not now available, if, in fact, they are in 
existence, it is well remembered by many citizens of that time as one of the most 
potent elements in the development of Kansas City. It was the center of thought 
and opinion, and had the effect of largely uniting the people in commercial ef- 
forts. It became the source of public enterprise and public movements in a most 
marked degree. Under its potent influence the people all worked together for 
common ends, and whatever public movement or enterprise it decided upon, re- 
ceived the support of all, and the strength and energy and intelligence of all were 
united in giving it shape and carrying it forward. It thus inaugurated a system of 
railroads for Kansas City, and prepared a map showing the various proposed 
lines. It organized the companies and procured the charters, and in some in- 
stances, as in that of the Kansas City & Cameron, and the Hannibal & St. Jo- 
seph and the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf, it pushed the work forward to such a 
point that other parties took them up and completed them. It thus projected 
nearly every line of railroad now coming to Kansas City, and proposed for them 
substantially the routes now occupied. It gave tone and strength to a spirit of 
public improvement which prevailed during the years intervening prior 
to the war of the rebellion, and thus promoted the improvement of streets, roads 
and bridges adjacent to the city. Its revenues were contributed by its members, 
one of the provisions of its rules being that each member should pay into the 
treasury annually, for the purpose of public enterprise, the same amount 
paid into the city treasury as municipal taxes. This provided it with abundant 
moneys. 

THE PANIC OF 1857. 

Kansas City was but little affected by the panic of 1857. She had a num- 
ber of railroad enterprises before her then that were stopped, but her trade was 
Httle affected. The large immigration to Kansas helped her over, besides which 
the commerce of the prairies, which was her main dependence, and which had 
always employed hard money, was not hurt. There was another favoring cir- 
cumstance in the large amount of government money then expended on the 
frontier, of which she eventually, through her trade, became the principal recipi- 
ent. In November 1857, iht Journal contained an article on the situation which 
so admirably explains why this great panic did not hurt the city as it did all her 
rivals, that it is copied here : 

"Border Money — During the week we have obtained from reliable sources a 
correct estimate of what may most appropriately be called border money — that 
is gold and silver coin that comes directly from the mint, or from New Mexico, 



70 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

and is first put into circulation upon the Missouri border. This is the fund that 
in our last issue we said constituted the major part of our commercial basis, and 
which could not be withdrawn Irom the commercial operations of the border, no 
matter how disastrous the panic in the east may be. It is this fund, together 
with the general agricultural and industrial prosperiety, that is to sustain the credit 
of the border, and save her from the general wreck and overthrow of the 
nation's finances. The whole amount of this border money is $5, 100,000. Of 
this, about $2,800,000 comes directly from the United States Mint, and conse- 
quently comes here annually by virtue of statue law to that effect. The balance 
is from New Mexico and immigration. Here are the various funds : 

Annuity Money $1,100,000 

Army Money 2,000,000 

Mail Money 200,000 

Emigration Money 300,000 

New Mexico Money 1,500,000 

Total . . . , $5,100,000 

" The annuity money is annually paid to the various tribes of Indians on our 
border — and by them is forthwith expended with our border merchants — not a 
dollar of it is hid in the earth, or stowed away in old stockings. The money 
received, the Indian is on his pony and off to trade, and when the last dollar is 
expended he is satisfied, unless he can obtain credit (which many of them can) till 
the next pay day. In this way, border commerce gets annuity money. 

" The army money is paid out to privates, for stocks and forage, and to 
officers. And if any of it is withheld from circulation for any length of time 
after it passes out of the Quartermaster's Department — then there is more hus- 
bandry in our army than it has credit for. 

"The mail money is paid directly to the contractors, for the transportation of 
the mail over the plains, and by contractors expended on the border for service, 
feed and stores. 

"The immigration money is brought hereby immigrants to the Territory, to 
our own State, and to New Mexico, Utah and California. We can find no reliable 
data from which to estimate the amount of this money brought to our border, 
but have made up our figures from the information of our business men. This 
money is expended immediately on the border, and what little the emigrants 
retain after the purchase of supplies and outfit, he keeps in his pocket — for what ! 
Why, to come down and trade again ! Thus the immigrant pocket money nour- 
ishes our border commerce. 

" The New Mexico money, amounting annually to $1,500,000 is expended 
directly with our border merchants and producers, for stock, freight, supplies, 
and outfits. This money is brought direct from Mexico, and is composed of 
dubloons and Mexican dollars. On the border the boxes are opened and the 
money meets a general circulation. Every workshop, mechanic, merchant and 
farmers on this border, gets some of the money. Such is the intercourse exist- 
ing between the border and the New Mexico trains, that this money obtains a 
general circulation with great rapidity. When a train arrives, the camp formed, 
and everything nicely " corralled," the money is in town, the employees paid off, 
feed purchased, stock increased or renewed, paid for, and everything connected 
with the business of the trains transacted with the greatest rapidity — and that 
makes business — a border panic — and the only panic we ever expect to see on the 
frontier, while its commerce is based upon border money." 

LIVE-STOCK BUSINESS. 

The immense freighting across the plains made Kansas City a good market 
for mules and oxen from 1854. In 1857, about 9,000 head of cattle and horses 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



71 



were driven from Texas and sold here. The total receipts of live-stock for that 
year were estimated at $200,000. In June, 1858, about 20,000 head of stock- 
cattle were driven here from Texas, but Kansas City was not then a market for 
that kind of stock, and having no railroads could not be. Hence they were 
driven on in the direction of Chicago, crossing the river at Randolph ferry. At 
that time there were more coming, both from Texas and the Indian Territory, 
and the whole number for the season was estimated, from what was deemed 
reliable data, at 65,000. At the same time cattle were going the other way, and 
in June 3,800 head crossed the river at Randolph from Iowa, going to California. 

ENLARGEMENT OF THE CITY. 

The commercial growth of the city during this period, its increased popula- 
tion and the large number of new buildings constructed, required more ground 
than was embraced in the original surveys, or in fact in the original charter. 
Hence a large number of additions were platted. In this place is given the date 
of the filing of plats of these additions and of re-surveys, including also the 
date of filing of the plat of the old town company in 1839, and 1846 and 1847. 



1839 — First plat, Town of Kansas. 

April 30, 1846, second plat. Town of 
Kansas. 

1847, third plat. Town of Kansas. 

November 29, 1855, Hubbard's Ad- 
dition. 

March 28, 1856, first plat, McGee's 
Addition. 

May 19, 1856, first plat, Troost's re- 
survey, blk. 16, O. T. 

July 19, 1856, Lykins'. 

April 6, 1857, Lawrence's. 

April 8, 1857, Belle view Place. 

April 16, 1857, Swope's. 

April 30, 1857, Ross & Scarritt's Ad- 
dition. 

May 26, 1857, Thomas'. 

June 2, 1857, Coates'. 

June 3, 1857, second plat, McGee's 
Addition. 

June 22, 1857, PuUiam's. 

July 15, 1857, Peery Place. 

August 15, 1857, Turner & Co.'s. 

August 31, 1857, Roberts'. 

September 7, 1857, Johnston's, J. 

September 10, 1857, Rivard's. 

September 19, 1857, Ramson & Hop- 
kins'. 

September 23, 1857, Bouton's. 

December 21, 1857, Swope's, T. H., 

2d. 
December 23, 1857, Reid's. 



January i, 1858, Guinotte's. 

January 23, 1858, Roberts' Corrected 
Plat. 

March 18, 1858, Ford & Whitworth's. 

March 31, 1858, McDaniels'. 

July 19, 1858, Hood's. 

July 29, 1858, Ramson & Talley's. 

August 3, 1858, Johnson's sub. of 
land 7, O. T. 

August 12, 1858, McGee's, J. H. 

August 26, 1858, Ashburn's (East 
Kansas). 

January 7, 1859, King's Re-survey, 
in Hubbard's Addition. 

February i, 1859, Ashburn's. 

February 4, 1859, King & Bouton's 
Re-survey, W. y^ blk. 10, E. ^^ 
blk. II, O. T. 

March 7, 1859, East Kansas. 

April 7, 1859, Vineyard's. 

June 6, 1859, Ridge's Place. 

July I, 1859, Lockridge's. 

August 5, 1859, Lot Coffman's Addi- 
tion. 

October 3, 1859, T. A. Smart's Ad- 
dition. 

March 2, i860, Lucas Place Addi- 
tion. 

April 13, 1861, West Kansas, Addi- 
tion No. I. 
May 24, King & Bouton's Re-survey 
of blocks in Old Town. 



To extend the municipal authority and protection over the rapidly extending 
town, an amendment to the charter was procured, January 29, 1857, which ex- 
tended the limits west to the State hne, south to Twelfth street, and made the 
eastern boundary the half section line which runs along the alley between McGee 
and Oak streets. This greatly enlarged the corporate limits to the west and 



72 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

south, but left out the forty-acre tract on the east which had been embraced in 
the corporate hmits under the original charter. 

On the i2th day of February, 1858, the Legislature again enlarged the cor- 
porate limits, extending the city southward by the State line to Twenty-second 
street, eastward along that street to Troost avenue, northward along Troost 
avenue to Twelfth street, eastward with Twelfth street to Lydia avenue, north- 
ward with Lydia avenue to Independence avenue, thence to the quarter section 
line a little west of Lydia avenue, which the corporation line followed to the river. 
This act divided the city legislature into two branches — a board of aldermen and 
a city council, a provision which was repealed in December following. It also 
directed the city council to divide the city into three wards, and to this end an 
ordinance was adopted March 5th, making all that part of the city east of Grand 
avenue the first ward, and between Grand avenue and Delaware street, and 
Main street south of the Junction, the second ward, and all west of Delaware, 
and of Main street south of the Junction, the third ward. 

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 

The events thus chronicled brings this history down to the outbreak of the 
War of the Rebellion, which was exceeding depressing to Kansas City, checking 
her progress and causing her to retrograde as will hereafter be shown. 

During the excited political contest of i860 public attention was so much 
absorbed with politics that there appears to have been but little effort to inaugu- 
rate new enterprises. Old ones, especially railroad projects, were carried for- 
ward, but none to completion, until the war cloud arose in the winter of 
1860-1. Kansas City had then become a place of 4,000 population. She had 
triumphed over all her competitors for the commerce of the prairies, and had ab- 
sorbed the trade of southern Kansas. Nearly all the railroads she has now were 
projected, and the Missouri Pacific and the Cameron Branch of the Hannibal & 
St. Joseph were soon to be completed. But the darkness of the cloud that cov- 
ered her hid all her glory. All enterprises, and nearly all business as well, was 
stopped. The Journa of Commerce suspended, the other newspapers stopped, 
and past triumphs, present advantages, progressing enterprises and future hopes, 
were all forgotten in the frenzied throes of the national agony. 

RETOSPECTIVE, 

In May, 1859, iht Journal of Commerce made this brief but comprehensive 
retrospect of the progress since 1855 : 

"In Octriber, 1855 when we first took charge of this paper, there was a 
population of 478, all told, within the city. The levee consisted of a "chute" 
dug in the bank in front of the warehouses of W. H. Chick & Co. and McCarty 
& Buckley. The Eldridge House (now old Gillis House) ground entrance was 
in the present second story, and the only street in the "city" was a common 
country road, which wound round the bluff into the ravine below Market street 
(Grand avenue), and followed the windings until it struck the divide south of 
McNees' mill. The principal products of the city were dog fennel and James- 
town weed. 

"The business consisted solely of the Santa Fe shipping trade and the like 
business for the annual trains of the mountain men and Indian traders. The 
local trade was carried on principally with the Wyandotte Indians, and the people 
living in the classic shades of " Gooseneck." 

" The city authorities consisted of a mayor, our present active officer, assisted 
by a board of city fathers, who had the delectable task of disposing of the con- 
tents of an em' ty treasury at the rate of $0 00 per day. The august assemblage 
was waited upon in the real Kentucky style of doing the dignified, by ex-Marshal 
Howe, who carried the financial budget of the city in his hat. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 73 

" It was thus we entered the campaign of 1856. At this date, Michael 
Smith, street contractor, had straightened the river end of the road into Market 
street, and under one of the cornfield engineers, of whom we have had such 
bright examples, had commenced excavating at the bottom of the ravine on Main 
street — but still there was no street. 

"In 1856 a brief season of activity set in which was soon stopped by the 
frosts of the Kansas troubles, which paralyzed all business and enterprise and 
stagnated every branch of trade.' This state of affairs continued until the close 
of the season, and when the spring of 1857 opened, there had been but little if 
any real advances made in the city. 

"The bluffs still towered over the landing; no streets were cut through; no 
cross streets were contemplated. Under all these depressing circumstances, with 
no foreign capital to assist us, with active competition above, below and behind 
us, with an empty exchequer and no resources from which to replenish it to any 
extent, our citizens boldly entered upon a system of improvements of a magnitude 
never equaled by any city built in the world. It is now twenty-four months 
since the work begun, eight of which were closed to operations by the frosts of 
winter and twelve of them under the financial pressure occasioned by the crisis 
of 1857, and what is the result? 

" A city of eight thousand inhabitants ; a list of mercantile houses surpassing 
that of any Missouri River town, with a trade larger than any city of her size in 
the world; with four streets cut through the buffs, cross streets opened and open- 
ing for eight squares from the river; a whole town built up outside of her original 
limits (McGee's addition), containing the longest continuous block of buildings 
west of St. Louis; an entire new business locality excavated out of the bluff, and 
built up with solid and substantial buildings m the center of the city; the crest of 
our "seven hills" covered with private residences; roads constructed into the 
interior, and the best levee on the Missour River. All this has been done since 
the first day of May 1857, without a dollar of outside capital to assist us, and 
with the money made by the business of the city itself. 

" We will have in operation in a short time a bank with a capital of $250,000, 
and before August a second with a like capital. Insurance offices that do a larger 
business than any institution of the kind in the upper country ; a city treasury 
able by the present assessment to pay every dollar held against it ; private bankers 
that have their drafts honored in any city of the Union or Europe, and a solid 
and substantial mercantile credit from Boston to New Orleans." 

At the close of the period of which we now write, Kansas City had made 
considerable further progress in the same general direction. The banks above 
referred to were put into successful operation ; large numbers of people had been 
added to the population ; many new houses had been built ; new stores and shops 
opened, arid the trade generally enlarged. The street improvements progressing 
at the time of the JournaV s article above quoted had been much advanced ; coun- 
try roads had been further improved, and the railroad schemes, in which Kansas 
City was then interested, had made much progress. 

In other respects the city had made much advancement in social aspects, 
which, up to this time, we have not noticed. The formation of societies, and 
the organization of churches and lodges, are the incident of commercial develop- 
ment, and had attended, so far, the development of Kansas City. At the close 
of the year i860 there were in Kansas City three lodges of Masons, two of Odd 
Fellows, one of Gt)od Templars, a Turnverien, Shamrock Benevolent Society, 
Orpheus Singing Society, a Chess Club and a Bible Society. There were the Kan- 
sas City Female Seminary, a Rectory School, a young gentlemen's seminary and 
a German school. The churches were : two Methodist, one Baptist, two Presby- 
terian, one Episcopal, one Catholic and one Christian. 

There were also the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce, both of 



74 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



which had grown directly out of the development of trade. There were three 
banks, one insurance company, one daily and two weekly English newspapers, 
one German weekly and a bi-monthly medical journal. 

At the census in i860 the population of Missouri Valley cities was as follows : 
Independence 3,164; Kansas City 4,418; Leavenworth 7,379; Weston 2,921; 
Atchison 2,611 ; St. Joseph 8,932 ; Council Bluffs 2,011, and Omaha 1,881. 

Such was the situation in which the war found Kansas City, but before pro- 
ceeding to narrate the effects of that struggle, an account will be given of a series 
of facts contemporaneous with those chronicled in this and the last preceding 
chapter relative to the development of railway enterprises. This will be presented 
in the next chapter. 




KANSAS CITY LIVE STOCK EXCHANGE. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. • 75 

CHAPTER IX. 
THE INCEPTION OF OUR RAILROADS. 

Kansas City Takes the Lead hi Efforts to Secure Railroad Facilities — Her Efforts Start a Eever in 
Railroad Enterprises in Western Missouri and Kansas — T/te Inception of Her Own System — 
The Hostility of Kansas — The First Efforts in Behalf of Trans- Continental Railroad — 
Kansas City in the Stru£gle, with Both the Slave and Anti-Slave Sections for the Road — The 
Enthusiasm of the Period — Beginnitig of Railroad Work — The Real Founders of Kansas 
City — Their Trials and Triumphs. 

The agitation of the construction of raihoads began in some parts of Mis- 
souri in 1849, a convention of that kind having been held in St. Louis in that 
year. Railroads then began to reach toward St. Louis, and approach the Missis- 
sippi from the east at other points. The country had become settled and product- 
ive to an extent that some method of transportation better than wagons had be- 
come necessary ; yet this was the only means, except near the navigable rivers. 
The Missouri River, by steamboat, was the only method of reaching the central 
and western parts of the State. The Pacific Railroad, from St. Louis to the 
western Hne of the State, was chartered in 1852, and the Hannibal & St. Joseph, 
through the influence of R. M. Stewart, afterward Governor, some time before 
that. 

KANSAS CITY STARTS THE FEVER IN WESTERN MISSOURI. 

Kansas City, by reason of being situated at the great angle of the Missouri 
River, which made her the nearest river point for the New Mexican plain; 
and Indian trade, was beginning to attract attention on account of her commerces 
and her people, appreciating the advantage her situation gave her, but knowing 
that railroads would make a great commercial center wherever they concentrated 
on the western border, and take all the plains trade to that point, saw that their 
future depended upon getting the railroads. One had been chartered already to 
St. Joseph, and another from St. Louis to the western border. She feared the 
effect of the one, and the possible location of the other. She began to make ef- 
forts to secure the Pacific, and to tap the Hannibal & St. Joseph, so that she 
would enjoy equal advantages with the latter named place. Thus, in 1855, there 
arose an activity in railroad schemes rarely equaled in any community, and the 
work done was, for a town of less than a thousand people, enormous. The agi- 
tation of this class of enterprises at Kansas City, at this time, can be best repres- 
ented by an account of events in the order in which they occurred. 

On the first of December, 1855, news was received from Jefferson City that 
the Legislature had passed a bill, giving State aid to certain railroads, among 
which was the Pacific. This gave great satisfaction here, as it was expected that 
the road would be immediately pushed through, and Kansas City was sanguine of 
success in securing its terminus. 

In December, 1855, she got a bill passed by the Missouri Legislature, incor- 
porating the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, the object 
of which was to build a road to the nearest point on the Hannibal & St. Joseph. 
The incorporators were Dr. B. Troost, W. H. Chick, M. J. Payne, A. J. Martin, 
Thos. Swope, Joel Walker, H. J. Richards, J. Riddlesbarger, Alex. Gilham, 
Gainus Jenkins, W. J. Jarboe, Jos. C. Ranson, J. W. Amnions, S. W. Bouton, 
Dr. J. Lykins, Dr. T. B. Lester, D. K. Abeel, J. W. Summers, J. A. Fenley, 
and William A. Strong. Governor Price vetoed the bill, but it was passed over 
his veto. This was the inception of the road to Cameron. 



76 , HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

The discussion of this project started the agitation in Western Missouri, and 
all the towns began to hold meetings, and project railroads. Among others pro- 
jected was the Parkville & Grand River, the Canton & Western, and the St. Jo- 
seph & Burlington. Meetings were held in almost every town in Western Mis- 
souri, and some kind of a project originated. The fever spread to Kansas, and 
Leavenworth, Lawrence and Atchison soon had their projects. 

The first Legislature of Kansas chartered the Kansas Valley Railroad, from 
Kansas City to Fort Riley, on the south side of the Kaw. This was the begin- 
ning of the agitation of a road in that valley, where we now have two. 

THE INCEPTION OF OTHER ROADS. 

The prominence Kansas City had already attained as the headquarters of the 
trade of the plains, led to the projection of several roads to her ; among which 
was the Kansas City & St. Joseph Railroad, which was chartered some time prior 
to 1855. This w^as the inception of our present Kansas City, St. Joseph & 
Council Bluffs Railroad. 

A Railroad to Galveston Bay began to be agitated in 1855. The road now 
known as the Texas Central, or a road occupying substantially the same route 
had been chartered and its construction begun. 

In the latter part of 1856 a company was organized in Arkansas and started 
a project called the Napoleon & Kansas City Railroad, which was to run from 
Napoleon, on the Mississippi River, via Fort Smith to Kansas City. Dr. Lee 
was president of this enterprise, and Capt. Lloyd Tighlman engineer, and part of 
the survey was made. It was looked upon with so much favor that some of the 
Missouri counties were urged to give it aid. Napoleon was then a place of more 
importance than since the war. 

In discussing the Galveston Railroad project it was soon discovered that the 
country northward of Kansas City took an interest in it, and would like to have 
it extended through their section. Hence, in February, 1857, a company was 
organized here, taking the name of the Kansas City, Galveston & Lake Superior 
Railroad Company, the purpose of which was to procure the building of a road 
from Lake Superior to Galveston through Kansas City. Dr. Lykins, Jos. C. 
Ranson, R. T. Van Horn, Robert J. Lawrence, S. W. Bouton, were the first 
directors. Dr. Lykins was elected president, R. T. Van Horn, secretary, and 
Kersey Coates, treasurer. 

January 12, 1856, books were opened for subscriptions to the stock ot the 
Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. It was then expected that the 
road could be located by March and constructed in two years, and that it would 
prove the most important line for the city, because more practicable for immi- 
grants to Kansas. Four days afterward a meeting of the people appointed J. Rid- 
dlesbarger, Jos. C. Ranson and J. C. McCoy to correspond with E. M. Samuels, 
of Clay county, relative to the survey of the road. Clay county had already 
proposed to pay half the expense if this city would pay the other. This propo- 
sition was promptly accepted. 

January 27th the Kansas Valley Railroad Company was organized with E. 
F. Perry, W. H. R. Lykins, J. C. Ranson, William A. Hopkins, J. M. Ashburn, 
Kersey Coates, Dr. J. Lykins, David Hood and Thos. H. Swope as directors. 
Dr. Lykins was elected president and Kersey Coates secretary and treasurer. 
The purpose of the company was to build a road on the south side of Kaw River 
to Fort Riley. Three hundred shares of the stock were subscribed at the meeting 
at which the organization was effected. 

On the 5th of July, 1856, the directors of the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. 
Joseph Railroad engaged Robert J. Lawrence to survey and locate the line. The 
work was begun the next week, and an agent accompanied Mr. Lawrence to 
solicit subscriptions to the stock. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY, 77 

The day previous to this appointment, July 4, Col. E. M. Samuels, of Clay 
county, addressed the people of Liberty in behalf of extending the line to Keokuk, 
and on' the 9th he addressed the people of Kansas City on the same subject. 

On the 19th of July, 1856, was the first mention in Kansas City of the Napol- 
eon & Kansas City Railroad, in a letter from Dr. F. A. Rice, of Keysburg, Ky. 

On the 19th of July the survey of route of the Kansas City, Hannibal & 
St. Joseph Railroad was finished by Mr. Lawrence to Fishing Creek, and on the 
26th, Joseph C. Ranson made the first call upon subscribers to the expense of 

the survey. . 

On the 4th of October, 1858, the directors of this road resolved to organize 
under the general incorporation law of the State, as the Keokuk & Kansas City 
Railroad, and asked the people to assemble and memorialize the city council to 
order an election to vote $150,000 stock in it. 

The election occurred on the 14th, and the proposition was carried almost 
unanimously. At that time Keokuk had voted $45,000, and it was estimated 
that $900,000 more could be procured along the hne, besides $50,000 of individ- 
ual subscription in Kansas City and an equal amount in Clay county. A con- 
vention in the interest of this road was called to meet at Linneus, November 20, 
1856- accordingly a pubhc meeting was held in. Kansas City on the loth, and 
the incorporators of the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad were 
requested to attend. The report of the survey, made by Robert J. Lawrence, 
was made November 15th, and the Hne was regarded as exceptionally favorable. 
This survey extended only to the line of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. 
At the railroad convention at Linneus, November 20th, there were delegates 
from Keokuk, Kansas City and from Scotland, Lewis, Adair, Linn, Livingston 
and Clay counties. Dr. W. A. Hopkins, Kersey Coates, Jos. C. Ranson, T. M. 
James S. W. Bouton, Robt. J. Lawrence, M. B Hedges and R. T. Van Horn 
attended from Kansas City, and Col. Van Horn was elected secretary. This 
convention resolved that the road was necessary and must be built, and raised a 
committee to obtain a charter from the Missouri Legislature. That committee was 
Col E. M. Samuels of Clay county, and Kersey Coates and R. T. Van Horn of 
Kansas City. W. Y. Slack, of Chillicothe, was appointed agent, and an assess- 
ment of three thousand dollars was made to pay for a preliminary survey, to be 
made by the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company. This con- 
vention was followed with many enthusiastic meetings along the proposed line, 
and subscriptions of stock by most of the counties. 

On the 2d of January, 1857, Gen. J. W. Reid, of this city, introduced into 
the Missouri Legislature a bill to incorporate this company, and it passed on the 
6th, though not without some opposition, as several members were afraid that if 
the'road were built it would become a conveyance for runaway slaves, because it 
terminated in a free State. As soon as this charter received the signature of the 
Governor, the company opened books in Kansas City, and two hundred and fifty 
shares of 'stock were immediatelf' subscribed by the people. 

In January, 1857, the Missouri Legislature als^ chartered the Kansas City & 
Galveston road. This road was to extend northward to Lake Superior, and John 
J Shoemaker commenced the survey from Kansas City, north through Platte and 
CUnton counties, and enthusiastic meetings were held at Plattsburg, Smithville 

and Barry. , , , . 

In December preceding (1856) Gen. Duff and party bought up the entire 
stock of the Kansas City & St. Joseph Railroad, and March 3d a bill was intro- 
duced by Gen. Reid into the Missouri Legislature which was passed and signed, 
appropriating $75,000 for it, under the name of the Platte County Road, by 
which it was afterward known. One-half the sum was to be expended between 
Kansas City and St. Joseph, and the other half in extending the line to Iowa. 

In March, 1857, the Louisiana Legislature passed the bill to incorporate the 



78 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

New Orleans, Shreveport & Kansas City Railroad, the line to touch the points 
named and run along the line between Arkansas and the Indian Territory, and 
Kansas and Missouri. Among the incorporators named in the bill were Kersey 
Coates and Dr. Lykins, of this city, and E. M. Samuels, of Clay county. 

On the secoi"^ of June, 1857, Mr. McPherson, president of the Pacific Rail- 
road, visited Jackson county, and promised to complete the road to Kansas City 
in eighteen months, if Kansas City would give it $150,000 and Independence 
$50,000, and it was promptly voted. 

The Kansas City and Keokuk Railroad company completed its organization 
July 6th, by electing Kersey Coates, president, Joseph C. Ranson vice-president, 
S. W. Bouton secretary and Robert J. Lawrence engineer. 

The survey of the Kansas City, Galveston and Lake Superior road was 
completed to the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road by Mr. Shoemaker, 
July II, and the cost of construction was estimated at $22 000 per mile. 

These, with a contemplated but unorganized road to the Pacific Ocean, and 
one to Santa Fe, was, in brief, the railroad system mapped out at that early day. 
It was grand in its conception, grand in the audacity with which it was presented 
by a frontier town with less than a thousand population and no railroad within 
two hundred miles of her. The struggle for its realization was a grand struggle, 
and resulted in the grandest of all — its substantially complete fulfillment. 

Before anything further could be done in way of the roads, which then 
seemed to be progressing so finely, the financial crash of 1857 came, sweeping 
away not only credit but the currency as well, and all enterprise, not only in 
Kansas City, but elsewhere stopped. Kansas City did not suffer much other- 
wise, as she maintained her fine trade on the plains and with Kansas and Kansas 
immigrants. But there was no further efforts made in the building of railroads 
until the following spring, though her favorite enterprises were held in warm 
remembrance, and much discussed by the people. 

THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES. '-\ 

The spirit and enthusiasm and hopes of that period cannot be better shown 
than in the following speech by Col. Van Horn at a merchants' supper, Christ- 
mas, 1857, in response to the toast — " Railroads and the Press — Twin Brothers 
in American Progress and Development." He said : "The meeting had 
imposed upon him a task, a response to which might necessarily involve some- 
what of egotism, for as regarded the press, he felt that it was speaking some- 
what of self, when he touched upon the habit of his life ; but in regard to 
railroads no such delicacy existed. 

" It might seem strange to some gentlemen who had not yet waked up from 
the effects of the sedatives their mothers administered to their infant necessities, 
that any one should attempt to speak of Kansas City railroads, when not a mile 
has yet been built leading from its boundaries. It is true as yet we have only 
charters, but there never was a railroad built #ithout a charter — so we have at 
least taken the first step. But we have taken a second step. We have made 
very thorough surveys of two routes, and have made large subscriptions of stock. 
The intellect of the city has mapped out a railroad chart for Kansas, covered it 
with charters, and secured them advantages beyond the power of any interest to 
cut off. We have not a charter of the seven roads entering here that is not 
secured forever by the vested rights of their stockholders —there is no city or 
town in American history that has done so much within the short space of two 
years. 

" Railroads involve a philosophy in the progress of the world that is fruitful 
in study. We, hving in this rushing age, lashed to the car of progress and borne 
ahead by the whirl of events, are too apt to forget what the world once was, in 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 79 

the days of pack horses, Coiinestoga wagons, broad horn river craft — and what 
it now is in those countries where primitive modes of transport still exist, and 
where the camel and the ass are the "ships of the desert," and the broad horns 
of the valleys of the old world — and where even men are bred and trained for 
the transport of merchandise between distant cities. In those old countries courts 
built cities, and the decrease of despotic rulers oblige whole empires to pay 
tribute to their licentious capitals. There it was that Nineveh, Bagdad, Con- 
stantinople and the ancient seats of commerce and wealth rose to eminence. 
'Y'^t. people establish their own commercial capitals, and the seats of our Republi- 
can courts are enlivened only at intervals by the representatives of her commer- 
cial marts and rural plains, who seek the quiet and seclusion of her civil halls for 
consultation upon common interest. Washington, Columbus, Springfield, 
Jefferson City, and Baton Rouge are the capitals of our rulers — New York, Cin- 
cinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans are the metropolitan cities of our 
people. God has marked out by topography the lines of commerce, and by the 
ranges of mountains and courses of rivers has fixed its centers and marts — and 
it is by studying these great tracings of the Almighty's finger that the pioneer of 
trade and the herald of civilization has selected the site of these gigantic cities of 
the Republic, and which has fixed upon the rock-bound bay of the Missouri and 
Kansas as the last great seat of wealth, trade, and population in the westward 
march of commerce toward the mountain basins of the Mississippi and Pacific, 
If men will only study topography the problem is solved. 

" Since the days of Columbus commerce and enterprise have been seeking 
the west — west, west, has ever been the watchword — over the Atlantic, up the 
Potomac, across the Alleghanies, down the Ohio, over the Missisippi, up the 
Jklissouri. It is found at last. Kansas City stands on the extreme point of west- 
ern navigation — it is the west of commerce ; beyond us the west must come to us 
overland. I say again — the west at last is found. (Enthusiastic and prolonged 
applause.) 

" We are now passing through the ordeal of early St. Louis. Surrounded 
by rivals that control public sentiment to a great degree, and with the legislation 
of the country against us, we are still outstripping all precedents, and surely and 
swiftly rising to metropolitan proportions and power. We are in the central paral- 
lel of population and production, and as sure as the sun in his course imparts to 
our valleys and plains the richest of his fructifying rays, just so sure will our 
fortune be great and certain. Without intending to touch upon political topics, 
I must be permitted to say that Robert J. Walker, in what he said of the isother- 
mal line, uttered a greater truth and exhibited greater wisdom than in anything 
else he said in Kansas. It is upon that line that population must center. It now 
contains two-thirds of the population and four-fifths of the cereals of the world. 
Thus the law of population itself will bring the great Pacific Railroad up the Kan- 
sas valley, for through that valley will flow three-fourths of the emigration west- 
ward — and this is one of our chartered roads ; another leading to Galveston on 
the south, bringing us nearer to tide-water than are St. Louis, Chicago and 
Cincinnati, and shortening our present distance fifteen hundred miles ; the Platte 
country road and the Keokuk road, reaching the northwest and northeast ; the 
Pacific road east, now half completed to the valleys of the Ohio and the basin of 
the great lakes ; and the Memphis road penetrating the cotton regions of the 
sunny South — these roads will, when all opened — as they will be — open up to 
Kansas City a mine of wealth unsurpassed by any city in the world — bringing 
within seventy hours of each other the cotton, sugar and stock of Texas, the 
robes and furs of the plains and mountains, the manufactures of the east, and the 
lumber and copper of the Mississippi and Lake Superior. 

" But I am asked by a certain class where is the money to come from ? I 
will answer that twelve years ago Chicago had a population less than our's now 



80 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

is, and was without a mile of railroad. Now she has a population of one hundred 
and thirty thousand, and over ten thousand miles of railroad radiating from her 
wharves in every direction — and all this has been accomplished without the ex- 
penditure of a single dollar of her business capital. Let the world know of us as 
it did of Chicago, that here is the commercial center, fixed by the laws of nature 
herself, and the capital of the world will stretch out its iron arms for our commerce 
' — the roads will be built. Let us work westward — that is the word for Kansas 
City — and the first snort of the iron horse as he bounds away for the headwaters 
of the Kansas will be the herald of the swift completion of the iron highways of 
commerce with the East." (Enthusiastic cheering.) 

THE UNITY AND MOVEMENTS OF THE PEOPLE. 

Owing to the severe struggle of border and Kansas towns for commercial 
supremacy, the people of Kansas City became closely united as early as 1855, 
and continued so until the unity was broken by political animosity at the begin- 
ning of the war. During that period the whole city moved as one man, or as a 
corporation in which there was no faction. The summer was the business sea- 
son, and the winter, when there was little trade, enterprises were discussed, or- 
ganized and set in motion. There was great activity in all directions, but in none 
more than in railroad projects. A brief statement of events and movements in 
their chronological order will best illustrate the activity, earnestness and devotion 
of those times. 

In May, 1858, there was a revival of interest in the Platte county enterprise, 
and meetings were held at Kansas City and along the line of the road. An en- 
gineer was put on and the survey completed between St. Joseph and Kansas City, 
by way of Platte City, that summer. • 

The same month the new directory of the Pacific caused it to be located be- 
tween Pleasant Hill and Kansas City. This road, from the time its line reached 
Jefferson City, coquetted with the people along the proposed line for aid and 
made no location until it had made the counties bid up on each other until the 
last dollar had been secured. Then it gave the road to the highest bidder. As 
its terminus on the western State line was not fixed, Cass and Jackson counties 
became contestants for it. After getting them to put up their last dollar it ac- 
cepted the aid of both, located the line to Kansas City via Pleasant Hill, in Cass 
county, and thus filled the contract with both. It has since been extended be- 
yond Kansas City and a line has been built westward from Pleasant Hill, and 
thus Cass and Jackson have been deprived of what they thought they were to 
get — the western terminus of the road. 

A ROAD TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 

The idea of a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, which seems to have been first 
suggested by Fremont, and gained formal and popular shape by the great rail- 
road convention at St. Louis in 1849, was much discussed in Kansas City up to 
this time. It was held that justice to the trade of the country and the treasury 
dictated the Kaw Valley route. It was held that by this route half the trans con- 
tinental line was already completed — from the Atlantic seaboard to St. Louis — 
and that thence westward there was available a succession of rich valleys like 
those through which passed the Baltimore & Ohio and Ohio & Mississippi Rail- 
roads ; that the route was the most central, the easiest of construction, and em- 
braced the lowest and most available passes through the mountains. Kansas City 
made a strong effort to get this route recognized by the establishment of an over- 
land mail, which was being discussed in Congress in 1856 7-8. 

Her sectional ^position, however, was not favorable, for Congress was then 
under the dominance of the South, which could not comprehend that there was 
anything north of the slave States worth considering, and held a route to be cen- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 81 

tral must be central to the country south of Mason & Dixon's Hne. St. Louis 
even favored this view, and lent her influence to a route by the way of Memphis 
and Little Rock, and thence across the arid Llano Estacado. At the same time 
the northern members of Congress, equally sectional as the southern, wanted 
the Pacific Railroad to start from a point on the frontier, west of Chicago. 

Kansas City, undaunted, undertook the task alone, and in July, 1858, her. 
Chamber of Commerce sent Col. Van Horn to Washington with a memorial to 
Congress on the central route, which was a most thorough, exhaustive and unan- 
swerable presentation of its advantages, which, on account of its historical value, 
is here presented. ♦ 

MEMORIAL. 

" To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress 
Assembled : 

"Your Memorialists, the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Kansas, 
State of Missouri, would most respectfully represent that we are deeply interested 
in the question of the construction of a railway to the Pacific Ocean. We are 
situated upon the central geographical line of the continent, as well as of the 
Union, and believe that such line is best adapted for the construction of a rail- 
way. We adopt the premises, that facilities for construction being equal, it is the 
duty of the Government to construct said road on the most central route, as by 
so doing all parts of the Union would receive more equal benefits. Believing 
this to be not only the duty, but the inclination of the Government, it will be 
our purpose to show that the central route, or, more definitely, the route by the 
valley of the Kansas River, is not only as practical as any other projected route, 
but that it is the only route that possesses all the requisites for constructing, main- 
taining and operating a railway across the continent of North America. In order 
to present this subject in all its elements, it will be proper to consider it in the 
order of its geographical position, climate, capacity to support a population and 
its topographical adaptation for railway construction. We shall then consider, 
first, 

ITS GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. 

"The Lake of the Woods, on the 49th parallel, and Galveston, near the 
29th parallel, may be taken as the extreme northern and southern boundaries of 
the central portion of the Republic. This would make the 39th parallel the cen- 
tral line, upon which parallel is the valley of the Kansas River, and an air line 
drawn from Galveston to the Lake of the Woods cuts the delta of the river. 
From New York to the mouth of the Kansas River is 1,316 miles; from Phila- 
delphia, 1,285 ™iles; from Baltimore, 1,198 miles; from Charleston, 1,010 miles; 
from New Orleans, 980 miles. These distances are calculated by the most direct 
railway connections, completed and in progress. By air lines the distances from 
the mouth of the Kansas River are, to New Orleans 654 miles, to Charleston 900 
miles, to Baltimore 936 miles, to Philadelphia 1,012 miles, and to New York 1,012 
miles. It will be thus seen that most of our principal seaboard cities on the Atlan- 
tic coast can reach the mouth of the Kansas River by routes nearly equal in 
length; thus maintaining, in regard to the trade of the Pacific, the same relative 
positions, advantages and disadvantages now possessed or afforded them by natural 
position, climate and facilities for ocean and interior commerce. It would place 
the Government in no position obnoxious to the charge of favoritism, but like the 
favors of Providence, its work would fall alike upon all, leaving to individual en- 
terprise and the laws of trade to determine, if any, the points of commercial 
supremacy. Indeed, if within the province of a memorial, we would suggest 
that political considerations alone ought to deter Congress from giving to any one 
section of country undue facilities for controlling the trade and moneyed interests of 

6 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 83 

this great Republic, as all such concentrations and monopolies are destructive of 
public morality, and that equitable adjustment of interest so essential to the har- 
mony, protection and development of the whole. 

" In considering this question, it is proper that we should keep before us one 
great object in the construction of such railway — that is, to connect the two 
oceans, and afford a military road, accessible from all portions of the Union, for 
the protection of all its posts. In a strategetical view, your memorialists cannot 
perceive how the country is to be advantaged by the construction of such a road 
upon the 48th parallel, its whole length skirted by the possessions of a forei'j-n 
power; or by taking the 3 2d parallel, on the borders of a State with which we 
have been at war, and with which only a quasi peace is now, or has been main- 
tained, for the past twenty years, thus subjecting it to inroads of hostile forces 
for half its length, on either route. Again, on either of the above routes it would 
run entirely outside the forts of the Government, away from the Indian tribes 
away from the routes of travel, and away from all the interests of the country 
needing protection. 

"The central route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans seems to be 
marked out by the topography of the country, and should at least be considered 
before the question of routes is determined. By reference to maps it will be seen 
that we have three systems of mountains running north and south ; this gives us 
six systems of rivers running east and west, which rivers occupy the series of 
central valleys dividing the continent from east to west. These are : the valleys 
of the Potomac, the Ohio, the Missouri, the Kansas and the Rio Colorado. • 

"This latter valley is turned from its course by the chain of Wahsatch moun- 
tains, where it deflects to the southwest, entering the Gulf of California in latitude 
32°. But nature seems to have provided for the result by the valley of the Nicolet 
whose waters run east of the Wasatch range and divide it by a natural channel 
precisely on the 39th parallel, by which we have an easy route to the spurs of 
the Sierra Nevada, near the 119th meridian of longitude, where the route strikes 
the western stream of the Great Basin, and following which by either of the val- 
leys of the Carson or Walker River to the valley of the Sacramento, or bearing 
south by Owen's River to the valley of the San Joaquin, via Stockton, to San 
Francisco. 

"These maybe denominated the central valleys of the continent, upon which 
the locomotive is now running for a distance of about 1,223, miles, 150 of which 
are west of the Mississippi, and is being prosecuted by the State of Missouri 
as rapidly as the work will admit, to the mouth of the Kansas. Within two years 
there will be a continuous line of railway from tide water, by these central val- 
leys, to the mouth of the Kansas River. Already has a company been chartered 
to continue this road up the valley of the Kansas to Fort Riley, which when 
completed, will make near 1,400 miles of this route already constructed by the 
unaided energies of the people inhabiting these central valleys — or one-half of 
the railroad. 

"By the routes named, or by any other route wherever started, the people 
would have to go back over a country where population has neither demanded or 
constructed railways, and rebuild nearly five hundred miles of road already con- 
structed or in progress, before the locomotive could reach its present western 
station in the wake of population and trade. 

" Is it just thus to re-tax the energies of the people to the extent of $20,000 - 
000 or $30,000,000 to secure commercial facilities that they have already provid- 
ed? By the selection of either of these routes, it would force upon the country 
the task of reconstructing their whole system of roads, or of doubling their 
extent in order to reach the great channel of continental commerce and trans- 
portation. 



84 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

CLIMATE AND POPULATION. 

"In considering this part of the subject, we do not conceive it necessary to 
lose sight of the object under consideration by a multiphcity of details or baro- 
metrical observations. It will suffice to state that within the 3 2d and 44th paral- 
lels is embraced California, one-half of Oregan, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, one- 
half of Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 
and the larger portions of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, 
Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Vermont, and from within these par- 
allels comes nine-tenths of the representatives on the floor of Congress. These 
facts abundantly prove its adaptability to support a dense population, so far as 
tested, from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The settlement of Kansas Territory 
within the past three years, is sufficient evidence of the capacity of the eastern 
slope of the mountains, when we state the fact that the act erecting Minnesota 
into a Territory bears date in the year 1849, and the act creating a territorial gov 
ernment in Kansas bears date 1854, and she is now applying for admission, side 
by side with Minnesota, as one of the sovereign States of the Confederacy, while 
Nebraska on the north, with three times her territory, and New Mexico on the 
south, twice her size and with a settlement that dates back to the time of the 
Spanish Conquest, are yet dependencies upon the bounty of the Federal treasury. 

"You have also before you the petition of the people of Carson Valley for a 
territorial government, and the statistics of its population, which discloses the 
fact that a powerful nucleus for a State is already in existence, in a locality where 
previous to their petition, such facts were unknown to a greater portion of the 
people of the United States, so rapid has been the tide of settlement. Already 
have the people of California begun to consider the question of building a railway 
to this valley. East of this, upon the eastern vein of the Great Basin, is the City 
of the Great Salt Lake, which, with its tributary country, is already dense enough 
in population for a State government. These Mormon settlements extend 
throughout the valleys of the Great Basin, in a country unsurpassed for the mild- 
ness and salubrity of its climate, and for the production of all the cereals necessary 
for the support of man. We state what our annual experience and annual trade 
demonstrates, upon our counting-house books, that there are not seventy-five 
miles of country between the thirty-seventh and fortieth parallels that is not now 
the habitation of the white man, and where settlement has not penetrated and 
fixed its never-relaxing grasp upon the soil. These facts we conceive to be of 
the first importance in a great enterprise like that of the Pacific Railway. We 
know that through this whole extent of the country, from the waters of the Sierra 
Nevada, are to be found white men living; that along it cluster the great Indian 
tribes of the American continent ; that here is to be found the buffalo, the ante- 
lope, the horse, and all descriptions of game and fish, upon which the Indian 
subsists. 

"It is on this route his permanent villages are fixed, for it is here he finds his 
food, fuel to prepare it, water to drink, timber to shelter him from the blasts of 
winter and from the hot suns of summer, and grass for his stock. These do not 
exist to the south, on the burning sands and wastes of the great deserts, and 
there the Indian is never found, except in roving bands, in search of plunder on 
the more southern valley of Mexico. There are not twenty miles on the whole 
route that the iron horse cannot drink from living streams of the purest water. 
In proof of this, we can only cite the fact, that our ox teams traverse it annually, 
without loss, taking out our wares, and bringing back in return the robes, furs 
and skins, obtained from the wild tribes of the .Sierra Nevada and the trappers 
and hunters of the Great Basin. Where we can employ the ox in commerce, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 85 

science and engineering can employ the iron horse; and where the ox finds 
water and subsistence, surely the locomtive can subsist. We wish not to decry 
other routes, but we merely ask a comparison between this fact and that stated 
by Lieutenant Beale, in his recent report. When speaking of the capacities of 
the camel for endurance, he says : " They carried the water for the mules for 
six days, without tasting a drop, and were in good condition at the end of that 
time." Yet, the opponents of the central route point triumphantly to the last 
exploration of Lieut. Beale, as conclusive in favor of their route. They seem to 
forget that Beale had two objects to attain — a railway route and the success of 
the camel experiment. But, unfortunately for them, his railway notes and his 
camel enlogiums are based upon entirely different data. The country that suited 
a railway did not develop the camel, and we have its topography in glowing 
colors — but the country in which the camel exhibited his peculiar powers of ab- 
stinence and wonderful endurance, was not the route of the iron horse ; and we 
have, instead of curvatures, gradients, and equated distances, the field notes of 
the dromedary, and his ability to subsist upon the hardest, bitterest, and scarcest 
shrubs, that a torrid sun and drifting sand clouds could produce. 

"Another consideration in connection with this portion of the subject, seems 
to have been lost sight of by the advocates of the southern, or thirty-second par- 
allel route. Their deductions are drawn from the fact that a railway may be 
operated over this desert route, with intervals of water of seventy-five to one 
hundred miles, by sinking wells to supply the engines. But they seem to over- 
look the fact that a railroad must be built before it can be operated ; and how 
thousands of laborers are to be concentrated on these desert wastes, without 
water, or dependant upon such prospects as Lieut. Beale holds out, in his well- 
boring experiments, is a question worthy of consideration, before the Government 
commits itself to such a project. We assert, without hesitation, and appeal to 
any authority, from the most scientific to that of the sub-contractor, and the labor- 
er himself, if the idea of building i,ooo miles of railway — 500 of which are arid 
wastes, where camels travel six days without water — by the manual labor of hu- 
man beings, is not one of the most stupendous schemes of folly ever undertaken 
in the history of the world. It might be done in a long series of years, and 
after the sacrifice of thousands of lives and millions of treasure ; but is it in con- 
sonance with the obligations to the American people to attempt such a sacrifice 
of treasure, life and time, upon such a route, when there is a route of the same 
character, in climate, soil and production, on the part to be constructed, as that 
upon which the portion already in operation is built. Can men labor, not for an 
hour, but for days, weeks, and months, on a naked plain, in an atmosphere so 
hot and dry that ' the nicely seasoned and well finished cases of the English in- 
struments of Lieutenant Whipple, made many years since, had so shrunk, from 
the aridity of the air, as not to admit of their original contents ; and when the 
horn, incasing the reading lens of his micrometer, snapped and flew into three 
pieces, from the excessive dryness of the atmosphere ?' How are dirt carts, 
picks, spades, and the thousand and one' articles attached to a railroad construc- 
tion party, to be operated in a climate like this, and who are to operate them, if 
it were possible ? 

" Settlement, population and production are requisites that enter into and con- 
trol all railway enterprises, and furnish, after they are built, the business which 
sustains them, and keeps them in operation. We will now examine this branch 
of our subject, before we dismiss this division, and enter upon the topographical 
arguments of this memorial. We have shown that the population of the Union, 
in the proportion of nine-tenths, is already crowded between the parallels 23-44, 
and that it has extended westward almost to the base of the Rocky Mountain chain, 
on 37-40. We have also shown that it has commenced on the Pacific Coast, and 
followed the same parallels east, to meet the tide from this side, as far as Carson 



86 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Valley. We have also shown that the necessities of Mormon prosperity have al- 
ready peopled the eastern vein of the Great Basin, leaving only a narrow strip, 
of what is said on the map to be "unexplored" lands, between the two veins of 
the Basin. But, although "unexplored" by government parties, it is familiar to 
many of our hardy and enterprising people, who have, for the last thirty years, 
made the great interior of the continent their homes, and carried their traffic from 
the possessions of the Hudson Bay Company to the Gulf of California; and it is 
from these men, our neighbors, our associates in business, and from personal ob- 
servations, that we speak; to them we fearlessly appeal for the correctness of all 
herein stated. But to return to the subject: Lying west of Kansas, is the large 
extent of country drained by the Grand and Green Rivers, affluents of the Rio 
Colorado of the West, extending north and south 300 miles, by 270 east and 
west, sufficient for a State as large as New York, of a cUmate and soil well adapt- 
ed to the wants of civilization. The country lies between the Rocky Mountains 
and the Wahsatch Range, and has, in the opinion of even government explorers, 
uninterrupted navigation to the Gulf of California. 

"West of this, and east of the Sierra Nevada, is Carson Valley, of which it is 
unnecessary for us to again speak in this connection. Thus we find that on the 
south of the 39th parallel, we have a continuous line of grain producing country, 
of temperate clmiate, abundant water, and timber in greater quantities than any 
other route south, and greater than any route north, until we reach the 49th par- 
allel, which skirts the sources of all our mighty rivers, in the cold and inhospitable 
pineries of the north; a region of country adapted to all the pursuits of civilized 
life, and where population is novv seeking and opening up homes for our people; 
a route upon which can be built powerful and populous States; and which will 
furnish protection and business to the road when built. These considerations 
alone, in the opinion of your memorialists, should decide the Government in the 
selection of the route for the great Pacific Railway. But, knowing as we do, 
that notwithstanding all these facts, this route is put down in the report of the 
Secretary of War, for 1855, as "impracticable," from its topography, we deem 
it proper to show that prejudice in consequence, is not only unfounded, but that 
the reports upon which he so declared it do not warrant this sweeping and gratu- 
itous assertion. We ask a still further hearing upon the topography of the coun- 
try on the 39th parallel route, as well as an exposure of the fallacies of govern- 
ment explorations as indices, for guidance, in a work of such magnitude as the 
construction of a railway to the Pacific. We desire, in this connection, to ask 
on other test than an engineering one, because we cannot permit the Central 
Route to be abandoned, when we know it presents no greater engineering obsta- 
cles than the State of Missouri has already overcome on the part of her Pacific 
Railroad already constructed, and nothing like such engineering difficulties as the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad has surmounted, in its passage of the AUeghanies. 

THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ROUTE, GOVERNMENT EXPLORATIONS, ETC., ETC. 

" In considering the topography of the 39th parallel route, it is not within 
the purpose of this memorial to enter into minute details, but to present facts 
known to exist, leaving to demonstrated experience the question of practicability. 
From the mouth of the Kansas to the Rocky Mountains, it is everywhere ad- 
mitted, and by every test demonstrated, that for seven hundred miles there is not 
an equal line of eligible railway track on the globe — without a hill, without a 
marsh or swamp, without a large stream to cross, without an obstacle of any 
description that an ordinary wagon cannot surmount — with wood, water, grass, 
coal, iron, lead, gypsum, salt and stone all along its course; covered with buffalo, 
elk, antelope, grouse and horses; inhabited by Indians, traders, white men and 
mixed races engaged in cultivation, grazing, hunting, trapping, war and traffic — 
a country over which from our own city annually go trains of wagons, carrying 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 87 

three tons each, and where no road making party have ever struck an axe or pick. 
" Where can such an argument — such a demonstration — be urged in favor of 
any other seven hundred mile Hne on the surface of the earth ? From this city 
alone, along this line, covering, as it does, almost two degrees of latitude, is 
transported a commerce of $7,000,000 annually. This constitutes the first division 
of the road. 

" The second division lies within the mountain ranges and spurs, and is known 
as " The Parks," and the valleys of every size that intersect this portion of the 
country in all directions. It is this region which is held up by the opponents of 
the true central route, and by the Secretary of War in his report of 1855, as " im- 
practicable." But instead of being this formidable obstruction, it is, in reality, 
the finest portion of the whole route in all the elements necessary to population, 
climate, soil, wood, water and vegetation, and contains in greater profusion the 
elements necessary for the sustenance of animal life and civilized habitation than 
any other division between the Mississippi and the Pacific. There is no moun- 
tain region yet known that can equal, or that can bear any comparison with it for 
salubrity and fruitfulness. Instead of the Rocky Mountains, on this parallel, 
being a barrier to be dreaded, or an obstacle to be surmounted in the shortest 
possible time, they are hailed by our trains, droves of stock and emigrants as a 
resting place for man and a recruiting ground for animals; for here is found corn 
and food for man, and the rich, luxuriant and nutritious grass of these natural 
meadows, upon which stock will travel and fatten. This region extends north 
and south from the 37th to the 41st degrees of latitude, and embraces from east 
to west the whole mountain range. We have the testimony of Beale, Fremont 
and Gunnison of the entire practicability of this region for railroad construction, 
and find it more abundant in timber, water and stone than any other portion of 
the range. We refer to these authorities simply to show that other evidence 
besides our own knowledge of the country exists, as corroborative of what our 
commercial intercourse with this region proves to us. 

"The third division embraces the valley of the Upper Colorado, between 
the base of the Rocky Mountains and the Wahsatch range, 150 miles east and 
west, by 300 or 400 north and south. This valley is open to the construction of 
any description of road, and bears the usual features of the country, alternated 
with timber and prairie ; and the simple fact of its being surrounded on three 
sides with ranges of mountains, covered with perpetual snow, is sufficient to 
demonstrate its ample supply of water. 

" Those who have wintered in this valley speak of it as almost destitute of 
snow. Coal abounds in this valley in all directions, and can almost be quarried 
from the banks of the streams. As to soil, this division is inferior to the first 
two, but it is equal to the second in wood and water, and superior to both. 
It is annually traversed by droves of stock, mules, cattle and sheep, and from 
the accounts of drovers, whom we know personally, who traverse it every year, 
and from citizens living among us, affords wood, water and grass in abundance 
for the daily wants of the largest herds driving ten, fifteen and twenty miles per 
day. 

" The fourth division, through which the great and true central route will 
pass, extends from the Wahsatch range to the Sierra Navada, and embraces a 
country less known to the Government by explorations than almost any part of the 
continent. 

" But, strange as it may seem, it is doubtless one of the richest portions of 
the American continent in all the elements that make up a desirable country for 
development by civilization ; coal, iron, timber, rock-salt in almost fabulous abund- 
ance in the mountain ranges, and soil, water, grass and wood in the valleys, and 
already settled throughout the whole region — farms under cultivation, towns and 
villages built, grist and saw mills in operation, smelting furnaces and forges 



88 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

erected, coal mines opened, and all the wants of the country in iron ore and 
agricultural implements supplied by the mechanics of this region itself. Startling 
as this information may seem, it is nevertheless true, and there now exists in this 
" unexplored region" the nucleus of a powerful and self-sustaining State, larger 
than many of the ruling States of Europe. Regular communication is kept up 
through this region between Great Salt Lake and Lower California, and while 
Congress has sent out party after party by the 48th, 41st, 35th and 32d parallel 
routes, this great interior region has been neglected until our overland traffic 
with the Pacific has become endangered by the fact of settlement itself; and we 
are this season debarred from our California trade in apprehension that Mormon 
hostility may cut off our herds and trains on this portion of the route which they 
have so silently appropriated. 

"The mountains of this region are no obstruction, being isolated spurs, with 
no regular ranges, and traversed in all directions by valleys of luxuriant vegeta- 
tion. The country can be traveled freely, in all directions, with the utmost 
facility, as far west as the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada. Of the route west 
of this range to the Pacific, it is not our purpose to speak ; as, happily, the energy 
of the American people in the development of California has relieved your 
memorialists of the task of showing its practicability 

" We have thus sketched, rapidly, the features of these separate divisions of 
the true central route, relying more upon our own knowledge of its character, 
gained from long acquaintance with it in trade and commerce, rather than from 
authorities which might be cited, bat which would swell this memorial beyond its 
original intent. We know the route because we use it ; and we know its eminent 
advantages, for we have found its profit. 

"We will close this memorial by considering the most, important feature, prac- 
tically, in the solution of this railway question : 

THE MOUNTAIN DIVISION AND PASSES. 

"The mountain ranges between Missouri and California are, in the estima- 
tion of many, a wild, desolate, terra incognita, unexplored and incapable of ex- 
ploration ; covered with perpetual snows, and forming midway between the 
Mississippi and Pacific, a cordon not to be surmounted, and holdnig in their fast 
solitudes secrets never to be revealed by science. This idea owes its existence to 
several causes, one of which is, that all of our explorations were first made in the 
higher northern latitudes, by Lewis and Clarke, and the American Fur Company's 
traders and voyageurs. We had then no possessions south of Astoria, and no 
trade with what is now our Golden State, and with the northern States of Mexico 
to draw our citizens to the southward. But within the past twenty years, since 
the settlement of western Missouri, a trade has gradually grown up between 
Missouri and the valleys of New Mexico, which trade has produced among us a 
class of men who have been the pioneers of modern exploration and discovery. 
Aubry, Carson and Leroux, are men educated by the trade to which we alludfe. 
We use their names, because more notoriety has been attached to them than 
others, from the fact of their being employed by the Government as guides. But 
it must not be supposed that they constitute all of their class. We have among 
us hundreds of men who are as intimately acquainted with the great interior of 
our country as any named, and as regards the central portions, much better; for 
it is with the mountaineers, as with all other men, they know the country in which 
their lives have been passed, and no more. These men, whom the Government 
so well know, are unacquainted with any portion of the mountains except those 
parts and those routes over which their traffic has been carried on. 

"The Mormons, when their exodus from Missouri and Illinois was made, 
passed along the route of the Fur Company, as the only route then known, to the 
headwaters of the Platte, and by the South Pass, to their present locality. This 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 89 

route was known because it was at a latitude, and was in the country of the 
beaver and other fur bearing animals, which are not to be found to the south- 
ward. It was not that the South Pass was the only pass in the mountains, but 
because it was in the fur region, and by the pursuit of that traffic was discovered. 
When California was opened up, the overland emigration took that route simply 
because it was known, and not because it was preferable. The necessity of a 
better, shorter and more congenial route, directed our attention further south, 
and instead of finding the mountains the impassable barriers which had been sup- 
posed, we find them to be, in many respects, the best and most desirable portions 
of the route to California ; cut up in all directions with valleys, and supplied in 
fabulous abundance with grass, water and timber. 

"We have been thus expHcit in this portion of our memorial, in order that 
the theory of interior discovery might be properly understood. Because all the 
discoveries of any merit that have been achieved, since the time of Lewis and 
Clarke, have been made by and through the necessities of the commercial opera- 
tions of the interior. It is true, government explorations have given us a more 
technical topographic knowledge of the country shown by 'guides'; but that 
any 'discoveries' have been made, or any new country added, to what was 
before known, we must frankly say nothing of the kind has been done, if we ex- 
cept Fremont and Beale, whose explorations were made, in part, as private 
expeditions. 

"It was thus that the various 'passes' were discovered and became 
celebrated, and this brings us to the consideration of this part of the railway ques- 
tion — one which elicited more controversy than all others connected with the 
topographic portion of the question, and one to which, in the opinion of your 
memorialists, an undue importance has been attached, and which promises to 
work more prejudice to the location of a Pacific Railway than all other questions 
combined. 

" In order to present this subject properly we must be allowed to go back of 
the term itself for its explanation, and give its fixed and technical meaning, for, 
to western men, engaged in overland traffic, a 'pass' has a peculiar and restrict- 
ed significance which must be understood. 

" Our commerce is carried on principally by heavy wagons, carrying from 
two and a half to three tons each, and drawn by ten or twelve mules or oxen. 
This, too, is over a country where a road has never been constructec^ a bridge 
built, or a hillside cut down to afford a track ; and these wagons have not only to 
traverse the plains thus, but they have also to cross the mountains thus. In order 
to cross our wagons, we are not solicitous as regards the greatest depressions in 
those mountain ranges ; what we desire is a practicable wagon way, not cut up by 
deep ravines crossing those depressions, or interlocking in the gorges, but an un- 
broken ascent, that carries with it over the mountain the features of the plain 
below — and when this is found it is a 'pass.' This peculiar formation is always 
at greater altitudes than that of the watercourses, over whose abrupt chasms our 
oxen and wagons cannot pass, but which, in many instances, can be crossed by 
bridges of from ten to twenty feet span. There are numberless depressions of 
this latter character of no serious obstructions to the locomotive, much shorter 
and lower in grade than any 'pass' known to be practicable for the passage of 
wagons, and can be found in all parts of the Rocky Mountains, and on any 
parallel. 

' ' We ask a comparison of the commerce of the western with the commerce 
of the eastern mountains, before the construction of roads. Where, in the Alle- 
ghany country, was ever such a spectacle presented in its natural state, as wag- 
ons carrying three tons, performing a journey of two thousand miles, without 
cutting a stick or digging a road way for their passage, and crossing that range of 
mountains on their route ? The fact that this has been done, and is .now accom- 



90 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

plished every year in this far western region, presents a topographical argument 
in favor of the country, of more significance and value than any theory connected 
with barometrical readings or mountain elevations. 

"The most celebrated 'Passes' are the South Pass, Coochatope, and the 
passes lying west of Auton Chico, near the 42d, 39th and 35th parallels. The 
South Pass and its discovery we have given. Those west of Auton Chico he 
contiguous to the old Spanish settlements of Northern Mexico, and have been 
known for a longer period than the South Pass. Coochatope became celebrated 
by the disastrous expedition of Fremont, in 1848-9. Since that time it has been 
set down as impracticable, notwithstanding Fremont, in 1853, and Gunnison, in 
i85;4, have since proved that the disaster was owing to the false information of a 
pretended guide, and that the pass is not only practicable, but eligible. But even 
in its vicinity are several depressions much lower than the 'Pass' itself, and 
which Gunnison explicitly refers to in his exploration. But there are other passes 
north of this, and far south of the South Pass, that are better than any of those 
named, and which our traders and drovers have used for years, and through 
which annually go and come our trains and caravans, to the Great Basin and 
California. One, particularly, which we know as Goodale's Pass, is not a mere 
wagon road of great elevation, or a depression in the chest of the mountain range, 
but a wide opening in the mountain, with water courses flowing gently through 
its rich meadows, and that is crossed without a knowledge of the fact, save from 
observation of the direction of the streams. This is our route of traffic, and 
which we fearlessly challenge exploration and investigation to establish. 

"We conceive we have just cause of complaint tliat this country has not met 
with that attention from Congress, which its great merits, as a practicable route, 
demands, leaving out entirely its geographical superiority. There is no question 
as to the practicability of the eastern slope, in any direction from the mouth of 
the Kansas, either by the Laramie Plains, the South Fork of the Platte, the 
Smoky Hill Fork of the Kansas, and the Huerfano by the way of Santa Fe. 

"This latter route is the best wagon road, of equal length, in the world; from 
the mouth of the Kansas to Santa Fe, 760 miles, over which, from this city, go 
annually from 6,000 to 10,000 heavily laden wagons, and over which the U. 
S. mail is carried with more regularity than between Boston and Washington, 
having failed but twice to arrive at schedule time, winter or summer, for eight 
years, astlie records of the Postoffice Department will show. Yet the Govern- 
ment has expended hundreds of thousands of dollars on military roads in other 
localities, but has never expended a dollar on this great route of travel and com- 
merce ; and its present excellence is owing to the road making power of the 
wheels that pass over it. We have thus, in the face of government explorations 
and the ' impracticable' verdicts of officials, worn a road superior to any yet con- 
structed or discovered. Still we are told, by men who never saw the plains, that 
this route, too, is 'impracticable.' 

" But there is, in the opinion of your memorialists, a reason for this that 
Congress should understand. The system of explorations pursued by the Govern- 
ment has been for practical results in discovery, greatly restricted by the system 
of instructions. Thus, a company of engineers is sent out to explore, having 
their course marked out by instructions, from which they are not at liberty to de- 
viate. Cardinal points, in these instructions, are the ' passes ' of which we have 
spoken. 

"This, in the expedition of Capt. Gunnison, when he crossed the mountains 
on the 38th parallel, instead of following that line west, through the country we 
have described in this memorial, was by his instructions, carried almost directly 
north, to the 41st parallel, which resulted in setting down the 39th as ' impracti- 
cable,' a rocky, barren, woodless, waterless desert; when we annually drive sheep 
and cattle over it, which we calculate on fattening on the route, and which we do 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 91 

fatten, by providing them with grass and water in abundance every night ; and 
sheep only travel ten miles per day. It is not tangent Hnes of exploration that 
can discover the practicable crossings of the mountains, but lateral surveys along 
either base, and following the valleys and water courses, which, on every parallel, 
divide and break those unknown ranges; and never until this is done, in the 
opinion of this chamber, can the question of the most eligible passage of the 
mountains be made satisfactory to Congress. For now, that the question of con- 
struction is seriously entertained, it is time the ' pass ' feature should be reduced 
to its legitimate topographical importance. Instead of controlling the location of 
so great a national work as a Pacific Railway, by diverting it from four to seven 
degrees of latitude from its true course, the fact of their superior elevation to 
water courses should be known ; for we confidently assert that a few short 
bridges, even culverts, and a few cuts, that are nothing in railway engineering, 
will pass the mountains, at several points, at a lower grade, than by any ' pass ' 
known to public explorers. 

"We assert what we know to be the truth, that in the Pacific Railroad al- 
ready constructed by the State of Missouri, have as formidable obstacles been 
overcome as are to be met with on the central or 39th parallel route, from the 
border of Missouri to California. 

"We have shown that the Rocky Mountains are less an obstruction than the 
AUeghanies, and it only remains for us to speak of the Sierra Nevada. They 
can be crossed by the Carson Valley, or, bearing north, by the Sacramento, or 
south by the San Joaquin, through the route passed by Fremont in 1853. 

"The fact of a railway being already talked of between California and Carson 
Valley, is sufficient to establish its practicability in the minds of the people who 
know the route. 

"Through the Sacramento valley pours annually the tide of trade and travel 
by the south pass, and by Walker's lake and San Joaquin go, each season, our 
herds of cattle and sheep, and which find open valley to the southward into the 
southern portions of California. But even did not these exist, would the Govern- 
ment of the United States be justified in locating the railroad from the Pacific 
from 300 to 500 miles south or north of the true line to avoid an obstacle less 
than the State of Massachusetts is now removing by her Hoosic tunnel, in order 
to shorten her connections by a few miles. This, even on the showing of the 
opponents of the Kansas Valley route, is all that is to be done — one tunnel and 
its approaches, by deep cuttings, in all only two miles, will overcome the only 
obstacle on a line of 2,000 miles of railway — and yet men are to be found who 
talk of 'impracticability' of country of this extent, of which its bitterest enemies 
can say nothing worse. 

" We can not believe that the location of the Pacific Railroad can be con- 
summated on either of the extreme routes in the face of these facts, especially 
when their verification is so easily attainable. But resting upon the geographical 
justness of the route by the Kansas Valley — its equity to the whole country — its 
connection 500 miles farther west with railways already built and in progress — the 
fact of its being but an extension of all the great lines of railway already con- 
structed — in view of any other route, forcing upon the country the reconstruction 
or doubling of their present lines, its great agricultural advantages, its woods, 
water, coal and stone, as well as its latitude, the most favorable on the continent 
for the working of railway machinery. We submit this memorial to the consider- 
ation of Congress." 

Trusten Polk, senator from Missouri, and John S. Phelps, member of the 
house, opposed this central route and sought to have it located from Memphis, 
Tennessee, and up the valley of the Canadian River. James S. Green, the other 
Missouri senator favored Missouri's interests. 

After much discussion the south and the north found that neither was able 



92 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

to get its favorite route, and finally, in January, 1861, the House passed a bill 
amended by motion of Gen. James Craig, of the St. Joseph district of Missouri, 
creating two branches, one from Kansas City and one from St. Joseph, which 
were to unite one hundred miles west and proceed by the most favorable route. 
This idea was substantially followed in the bill that finally became a law in 1862. 

OUR LOCAL ROADS AGAIN. 

But to return to local enterprises. A delegation of the Missouri Pacific com- 
pany came to Kansas City August nth, 1859, to ask a change in the form of the 
subscriptions of Jackson county, and Independence and Kansas City, so as to 
make it immediately available for the construction of the road, and promising to 
have it finished the following spring. This promise aroused the greatest enthusi- 
asm in Kansas City. 

The Hannibal & St. Joseph road had been completed and put in operation 
March ist, to St. Joseph, which was, therefore, that much ahead, and the effect 
was feared. The County Court was induced to submit the proposition. There 
was opposition to it in the county, and there ensued a lively campaign. The elec- 
tion occurred on the 2d of September, and the night before there was a meeting 
in Kansas City, which best expressed the feelings of the community at the time. 
As soon as it was dark, a large portion of the buildings on Main street were illu- 
minated, the greatest display being made in the vicinity of the place appointed for 
the meeting. Conspicuous over all were the flags and banners of the Metropolitan 
office, suspended over the street. In front of the building was a full railroad 
train, of locomotive, tender and two passenger cars, which were handsomely illu- 
minated, while the smoke from the engine stack poured forth in a constant cloud; 
on the "cow catcher" was a poor old fogy, who, being unable to "get out of the 
way," had been mercilessly impaled upon the car of progress. 

But the grand feature of the evening was the procession from McGee's Addi- 
tion. That live locality never made a failure. At half past seven o'clock the 
procession was seen turning the bend of the street at the Union Hotel, headed by 
the consolidated bands of the city, led by Professors Banta and Jenny, torches 
blazing and transparencies dispersed at intervals in the long line of enthusiastic 
voters. At this point it was met by the procession from the north part of the 
city, when the combined delegations under the direction of Capt. Boarman, 
chief marshal, aided by Messrs. Francis Foster and S. Thompson, moved down 
Main street to the levee. 

Just as the procession had passed out of sight from the square, the music to 
the south announced the coming of the Westport delegation, headed by the splen- 
did band of Prof. Hunter, under the charge of Sam Justice, in the Westport 
'bus, followed by a procession of carriages and horsemen. As they filed into 
the square where the meeting was to be held, they were hailed with cheer upon 
cheer, which being caught up by the hundreds there assembled, made the welkin 
ring. 

At the election the next day the proposition was carried by a vote of 2,142 
for, to 860 against, every precinct, except Kansas City and Westport, giving a 
majority against it. 

On the nth of September, 1858, a meeting was held in Paola, Kan., to take 
steps to secure a railroad to Kansas City. 

In October a large meeting at Des Moines, Iowa, started the project of the 
Des Moines & Kansas City Railroad. 

A GREAT RAILROAD CONVENTION. 

On the 22nd and 23d of November, 1858, a great railroad convention was 
held at Kansas City for the purpose of uniting the people of the adjacent country 
on the lines proposed by this city, and so concentrating interest as to further their 



HISTORY OF KANSAS' CITY. 93 

construction. It was attended by delegates from Independence, Westport, 
Wyandotte, Osawatomie, Paola, Shawnee, Olathe, Lawrence, Lecompton, 
Manhattan, KansapoHs, Mandovi, St. George and Delaware crossing. 

0. C. Brown, of Osawatomie, was President ; E. C. McCarty, of Kansas 
City, J. A. J. Chapman, of St. George, W. Roy, of Shawnee, N. Scarritt, of 
Westport, Wm. Chick, of Westport, Wm. Gilpin, of Independence, B. F. Simp- 
son, of Paola, J. T. Barton, of Olathe, J. B. Chapman, of Maudovi ; J. P. 
Roote, of Wyandotte, and J. H. Young, of Manhattan, were Vice-Presidents. 
The committee on resolutions was composed of J. C. Groom, F. W. Crane, K. 
Coates, J. P. Root, John McCarty, R. T. Van Horn, J. A. J. Chapman, Dr. 
Johnston Lykins, W. C. Claiborne, W. Chestnut, J. B. Chapman, W. Heberton, 
and Thos. A. Smart. 

The following resolutions proposed by Col. Van Horn, were adopted : 
Whereas, We believe the time to have arrived when measures for the im- 
mediate construction of a great Continental Railway, uniting the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans, should be inaugurated by the Congress of the United States ; and 
Whereas, The valley of the Kansas River is situated on the central geo- 
graphical line of the continent and the Union, we are in favor of the route by 
the valley — and in support of our position we urge the following reasons : 

1. We adopt the premises that facilities for construction being equal, it is 
the duty of the Government to construct said road upon the most central route, as 
by so doing all parts of the Union would receive more equal benefit. 

2. The Lake of the Woods, on the 49th parallel, and Galveston, on the 
29th parallel, may be taken as the extreme northern and southern boundaries of 
the central portion of the Republic, thus making the 39th parallel the center, on 
which parallel is the valley of the Kansas River. 

3. The route for the Continental Railway seems to be marked out by 
nature — and embraces a series of central valleys traversing the continent, viz : 
the valleys of the Potomac, the Ohio, the Missouri, the Kansas, the Colorado, 
the Nicolett and San Joaquin. 

4. That on this route there are already constructed 1,238 miles of railroad, 
upon which the locomotives are now running; 175 miles of which are west of the 
Mississippi, and is being prosecuted as rapidly as the work will admit, by the State 
of Missouri, to the mouth of the Kansas River, making 1,315 miles of the great 
Continental Railv/ay, built by the unaided energies of the people inhabiting these 
central valleys — or one-half the road. 

5. The construction of said railroad by this route would disturb none of 
the existing centers of trade, but leave the great maritime cities of the Union in 
the same relative positions which they now occupy, as the following will show : 
From the mouth of the Kansas River to New York it is 1,316 miles; to Phila- 
delphia, 1,285 I'liiles; to Baltimore, 1,108 miles; to Charleston, 1,010 miles; to 
New Orleans, 980. It will thus be seen that most of our principal seaboad cities 
can reach the mouth of the Kansas River by lines nearly equal in length; thus 
maintaining in regard to the trade of the Pacific, the same relative positions, 
advantages and disadvantages now possessed or afforded them by natural position, 
climate and facilities for ocean and interior commerce. 

6. That we can see no propriety in the construction of said road on the 
48th parallel, its whole length skirted by the possessions of a foreign power; or 
on the 3 2d parallel, on the borders of a State with which we have been at war, 
and with which only a quasi peace has been maintained for the past twenty years. 
But that the great object in the construction of such railway should be to connect 
the two oceans, and afford a military road accessible from all portions of the 
Union for the protection of all its parts. 

7. A railway on either of the extreme routes named, would run entirely 
outside of the government forts, away from the Indian tribes, and away from the 



94 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

routes of emigration, travel and commerce, and away from all interests of the 
country needing protection. 

8. By any other route the people would have to go back over a country 
where population has neither demanded nor constructed railways, and rebuild 
over five hundred miles of railway, already constructed, and in progress, before 
the locomotive could reach its present western station in the wake of population 
and trade. 

9. It is unjust thus to re tax the means and energies of the people to the 
extent of 30,000,000 to 50,000,000, to secure commercial facilities that they have 
already provided. By the selection of another route, it would force upon the 
country the reconstruction of their entire railway system, or of doubling its ex- 
tent in order to reach the great channel of continental commerce and transpor- 
tation. Therefore, 

Resolved, That it is the deliberate judgment of this convention, representing 
the interests of western Missouri and the Territory of Kansas, that justice to the 
whole country, as well as the advantages of the General Government, requires and 
demands the construction of the Continental Railway by the central or thirty- 
ninth parallel route — the route of the Kansas Valley. 

Resolved, That we call upon our representatives in both houses of Congress, 
to urge the location of said railroad upon this great central route, as just to the 
country, in unison with the demands of the great centers of population and com- 
merce, and in a still farther development of the commercial facilities already 
provided by the people themselves. And, 

Whereas, We deem it a fitting period in the progress of the country, for the 
people of the west, to take measures for the control of their own commerce, and 
to provide : 

1. For the opening up of routes to the seaboard, shorter and less exposed 
to the obstructions of climate and distance. 

2. That, as our nearest seaport by present lines of transportation is more 
than 1,290 miles, subject to suspension, by ice, snow, and traverse of long 
lines of rivers, lakes, and railroads, and interrupted by numerous interests con- 
trolled by competing corporations, that, 

3. We require a shorter route controlled by a community of interests, and, 

4. That it being but 600 miles to the ocean at the Port of Galveston, from 
the mouth of the Kansas River, that a railroad connecting these points would aid 
in developing one of the richest portions of the American continent, now denied 
an outlet to the markets of the world — therefore. 

Resolved, That a railroad from the mouth of the Kansas River, running south 
to Galveston, in the State of Texas, would add greatly to the wealth and power 
of the Union, by opening up to the markets of the world, the rich valleys of the 
Osage, Neosho, Arkansas and Red Rivers, and of the great State of Texas, by 
affording an outlet to the productions of this vast region, and a direct line to 
supply our central region with the groceries of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Resolved, That in the opinion of this convention, a grant of lands should be 
made by Congress for this purpose, which grant would be the means of opening 
a market by short lines of transit between the productions of the northern and 
southern portions of the interior of the Republic — now denied them. 

Resolved, That we call upon our representatives in Congress to ask and urge 
upon that body a compHance with the just demands of the people in this regard — 
by granting lands sufficient to secure the construction of the great line of rail- 
road. And, * 

Whereas, A connection with the system of railroads centering at, and di- 
verging from ChicBgo, to the east, by a shorter line than at present, requires a 
connection north from the mouth of the Kansas River — therefore, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. . 95 

Resolved, That a road connection with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, 
is of the first importance to the country represented in this convention. 

Resolved, That we will aid to the extent of our means and influence, in the 
early prosecution and construction of such connection. 

Resolved, That in the attainment of objects contemplated by this convention, 
the only guarantee of success is in combined and harmonious action ; and, there- 
fore, it is most earnestly recommended to the citizens of the towns and districts 
in Kansas and Missouri, having a common interest in the construction of one or 
more of the railroads designated in the foregoing resolutions, to render active 
and efficient cooperation and aid, with a view of obtainining from Congress a 
grant or grants of land to aid in the building of such road or roads. 

OTHER INTERESTS. 

In May, 1839, a convention at Richmond, Ray county, proposed a road 
from some point in North Missouri to Kansas City, which has since been realized 
in what is now the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific. 

July 26, 1856, at Osawatomie, a company was organized to procure the 
construction of a road from Kansas City to Galveston, under a charter granted 
by the State of Kansas, February, 1858. On the 9th of September, the Wyan- 
dotte and Osawatomie Railroad Company was organized, and later in the season, 
the Kansas City, Galveston and Lake Superior project was agitated again in a 
series of meetings. 

At the session of the Missouri Legislature in 1859-60, the Missouri Pacific, 
Iron Mountain and North Missouri Roads were all in a condition that they could 
not go forward without further State aid. The Legislature labored with it all the 
session but finally adjourned without doing anything. Kansas City felt this to 
be a most calamitous blow. Indignation meetings were held here, and Governor 
Stewart was urged to recall the Legislature. Other sections similarly situated 
took like action, and Governor Stewart recalled the Legislature to meet February 
27, i860. 

During the agitation pending these proceedings Kansas City organized the 
Kansas City and Gallatin company to build a road to a connection with the 
Hannibal & St. Joe at the latter named place, but it waited the action of the 
Legislature in regard to the Pacific. Soon after meeting the Legislature passed a 
bill giving the required aid. Kansas City had come so near the evils of a long 
delay in the building of the Pacific that this action proved most exciting to the 
people. Meetings were held, torchlight processions had, and for a few days the 
town was almost wild with joy. Wyandotte and Olathe caught the infection and 
held meetings also. R. M. Stewart, the father of the Hannibal and St. Joseph 
road, was Governor, having been elected as a railroad candidate, and by railroad 
advocates. The bill was just about what he had asked the Legislature to pass, 
hence the people had good reason to feel that all was secured. It was but a few 
days, however, until outgivings from the executive office portended a veto. The 
people were astonished, public enterprise held its breath in suspense. It was not 
long, however until the blow struck ; the veto came, based upon some technical- 
ities; the Legislature immediately adjourned, and railroad prospects were again 
plunged in gloom. The people felt that they had been betrayed by their Gov- 
ernor; they had been kept so long oscillating between hope and fear — success 
and disappointment — that they were thoroughly aroused. The flood of public 
excitement was turned upon Gov. Stewart, and he was denounced in unmeasured 
terms. He tried to explain his action through the public press, but to no effect. 
That veto was his political death. 

KANSAS CITY AND THE CAMERON ROAD. 

At a meeting of indignation in this city. Dr. Johnson Lykins offered a reso- 
lution, which was adopted, creating an executive committee to foster our railroad 



96 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

interests, and to correspond with other places to that end. It at once opened a 
correspondence with the people of Clay county relative to this road, and to the 
Hannibal and St. Joseph. The result was that in a few days a company was 
organized called the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad Company. Meetings 
were held, and thus an interest awakened along the line. On the 27th of April 
this city voted it $200,000, and Clay county voted it $200,000, June 12th. The 
survey was begun April 27th. In July, Mayor Maughs, of this city, E. M. 
Samuels and Michael Andrews, of Clay county went to Boston and effected a 
contract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, August 7th, to 
build the road. The contract for the work was let to W.J. Quealy, August i6th, 
and work begun October 8th. In the following January (1861) the work was 
one-third done. There were about six hundred men employed, and it was ex- 
pected to have two-thirds done by April and the cars running by June. The 
war, however, stopped the work, and the road was not finished until its close. 

Meantime the Pacific Company, having failed to get State aid, effected a 
shift by which it was able to command the necessary means, and went on with 
its road. Ground was broken at Kansas City July 25, i860, and the work was 
progressing rapidly, with every prospect of completion in 186 1, when it, too, 
was stopped by the war. 

KANSAS HOSTILITY. 

A territoral railroad convention was held at Topeka, October 17, i860, 
which seems to have been the outgrowth of a feeling on the part of several towns in 
Kansas, hostile to Kansas City. These places had used every effort since the 
convention in this city in November, 1858, to prevent Kansas people from taking 
an interest in railroads centering at Kansas City, and to concentrate th'e interest 
on railroads running to other places. This spirit was shown in the resolutions 
adopted, which were as follows : 

Resolved, That a memorial be presented to Congress asking an appropriation 
of public lands to aid in construction of the following named railroads in Kansas : 

1. A railroad from the western boundary of the State of Missouri, where the 
Osage Valley & Southern Kansas Railroad terminates, westwardly by way of 
Emporia, Fremont and Council Grove to the Fort Riley military reservation. 

2. A railroad from the city of Wyandotte (connecting with the Parkville 
& Grand River Railroad, and the Pacific Railroad), up the Kansas Valley by 
way of Lawrence, Lecompton, Tecumseh, Topeka, Manhattan and the Fort 
Riley military reservation, to the western boundary of the Territory. 

3. A railroad running from Lawrence to the southern boundary of Kansas, 
in the direction of Fort Gibson and Galveston Bay. 

4. A railroad from Atchison, by way of Topeka, through the Territory in 
the direction of Santa Fe. 

5. A railroad from Atchison to the western boundary of Kansas. 

The Osage & Southern Kansas Railroad referred to in the first section of 
this resolution, was a road then chartered to start at the mouth of the Osage 
River, in Missouri, and follow the valley of that river to the Kansas line. It 
has never been built. 

The Parkville & Grand River road, referred to in the second section, was a 
road partly constructed between Parkville, in Platte county, Missouri, to Cam- 
eron, on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and the Pacific referred to in the 
same section, was the Missouri Pacific, which at that time had decided to make 
its terminus on the west line of the State, opposite Wyandotte. This section 
meant opposition to Kansas City's connection with the Hannibal & St. Joe, and to 
remove the connecting point to Wyandotte for both that road and the Missouri 
Pacific. There was a great effort made about this time to concentrate interest in 
the road south from Lawrence, as opposed to the projected road south from Kan- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



97 



sas City. The proposed road up the valley of the Kaw was designed as an 
opponent to the Kansas Valley Railroad projected by Kansas City. 

The idea of a railroad from Kansas City to Santa Fe was sought to be over- 
shadowed by a request upon Congress for a grant of lands for such a road by way 
of Topeka. Hostile to Kansas City as was this action, it was not strong enough 
for the Leavenworth delegates, so they withdrew, taking some others with them, 
and held a convention of their own. Two railroad projects were started at that 
Topeka convention which have since been realized — the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe, and the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern — but the main lines of 
both run to this city. 

In the spring of 1861 there was a revival of the agitation of a road to the 
southwest into Kansas. The people of Kansas, under the influence of her cities, 
had become well imbued with a feeling of State pride in the building of towns 
and railroads. The people of the southern part of the State understood the com- 
manding advantages of the point at the mouth of the Kaw, but wanted to make 
the town on the north side of that stream. Hence they got two companies char- 
tered — the Wyandotte and Osawatomie, and the Wyandotte and Minneola. 
These occupied the same route to Olathe, and thence deployed much as do the 
Fort Scott and Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern roads now. In the spring of 
186 1 there was an effort made to consolidate these companies, as the existing roads 
are now consolidated, and put them under way, and to that end Kansas City 
voted $100,000 at the same time it voted aid to the Cameron road. But the war 
cloud was gathering and it soon engulfed this enterprise also. 

THE MEN OF THE PERIOD. 

The men of this period, many of whose names appear in this chapter, were 
the real founders of Kansas City. They laid broad and deep the foundations of 
her present and future supremacy, and though but few of them appeared after 
the war to build the superstructure, that few, efficiently aided by other hands, 
have built it as they planned, and the proud city which was to them a fond dream 
only is to us a grand reality. Whoever has succeeded or may succeed them, will 
never exhibit more comprehensive enterprise, courageously undertake more am- 
bitious schemes, or be called upon to be more vigilant, or undergo severer trials 
for the attainment of grand objects. Their trials and services can never be ade- 
quately rewarded by succeeding generations. 




98 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY, 

CHAPTER X. 
KANSAS CITY IN THE WAR. 

The Excite7nents and Events Preceding the Great Struggle — The Marshaling of the Hosts on Both 
Sides — Van Horn's Battalion — The First Fighting — Biisk-whackers and Red Legs — The De- 
pression of Trade and its Revival — Resu7)iption of Railroad Building — The Great Raid of 
1864. 

The close of the year i860 saw Kansas City the most thriving and prosper- 
ous city on the western border, with the largest local trade, a monopoly of the 
trade to New Mexico, and much the larger part of that to Colorado. Two rail- 
roads — the Pacific from St. Louis, and the Cameron Branch of the Hannibal & 
St. Joseph were near completion, and both were expected to be done by the 
middle of the summer 1861. 

A FEVERISH COMMUNITY. 

But public sentiment was very unsettled and feverish. The presidential 
campaign of i860 was an unusually exciting one, and some time before its close 
it was apparent that it would be followed with excitement and possibly revolution. 
The division of the country on the slavery question, the division of the advocates 
of slavery between Douglas and Breckinridge in the campaign, and the unity of 
all anti-slavery elements upon Mr. Lincoln, early gave the issue an ominous aspect 
for the Democratic party and the friends of slavery. There were threatenings of 
revolt from the south before the close of the contest, and the sentiment of the 
Democracy of Missouri, or at least the dominant element of it, was rapidly crys- 
tallizing into the form of rebellion when the contest closed. The feeling through 
the campaign became so bitter toward Republicans, that out of about two hun- 
dred and fifty residing in Kansas City, but about eighty were bold enough by the 
day of election to take the chances of voting for that ticket. Outspoken Union 
Democrats were regarded with fittle less aversion. The Journal of Com?nerce 
supported Douglas, and it was apparent that it and its editor could not be led 
into any secession scheme. It was the leading paper in the city, and by reason 
of its warm support of the public enterprises, and the earnest advocacy of the 
interests of the city for the five years preceding had attained a very influential 
position. Its manifest anti-secession tendencies made it an object of profound 
concern to the rapidly forming secession element, and to control it in their interest 
became an object of first importance. Finding that its editor was implacable, a 
scheme to get rid of him was concocted, and as early as August ist, i860, he 
had to dispose of his interest. His partner, D. K. Abeel, became the purchaser, 
who retained him as editor, and soon let the embryo secessionists see that he was 
as little to be influenced by them as the editor whom they had sought to get 
rid of. 

The winter of 1 860-1 was a season of feverish excitement and suspense. 
Where men had before stood shoulder to shoulder, forming the schemes of future 
commercial greatness, they now stood apart, narrowly watching each other's 
movements, and waiting the exciting news from the Southern States. As events 
in that quarter progressed, the secession sentiment in Kansas City and Missouri 
crystallized, and early in the winter business began to be neglected and to go 
down, and instead of preparing for an active spring trade, as had been the pre- 
vious custom, people prepared themselves for the inevitable storm that threatened 
the country. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 99 

Public meetings that winter were frequent, not only in Kansas City, but in 
all adjacent parts of Missouri, as had been the case in previous years, but the 
resolutions adopted, unlike those of former meetings, were not declaratory of the 
sense of the people relative to some railroad or business project, but of their sym- 
pathy with the Union or with secession. Several of the Southern States having 
seceeded from the Union, and the State officers of Missouri, elected in i860, being 
all in ardent sympathy with them, a convention was called for February 28, 186 1, 
to determine whether Missouri should follow them. 

The election for delegates to that convention took place February i8th, and 
for the district composed of Jackson, Cass and Bates counties, James K. Sheeley, 
Abram Comingo and R. A. Brown were elected delegates. The first named two 
of these were opposed to secession and the other in favor of it. The convention 
failed to pass the necessary ordinance of secession, but that did not stop the 
movement; the threatening storm gathered faster and faster. The Legislature pro- 
vided for calling out the militia, and Governor Jackson began to prepare ac- 
tively to defend the State against invasion by the Federal Army. Under this 
pretext, treasonable as it was, many companies were organized throughout the 
State. Meantime the situation was constantly getting worse in this city, and by 
the time spring opened peaceful pursuits were quite abandoned. The Journal of 
Commerce, for the lack of support, was suspended on the 7th of March. The 
Free State Republican, a Republican paper established in the campaign of i860, 
and edited principally by Dr. Theodore S. Case, was suspended March 25th, 
partly for the lack of support and partly because it was no longer safe to attempt 
the publication of a Republican paper in the city. The Missouri Post, German, 
and loyal, published by Mr. A. Wuerz, now Post and Tribune, was removed to 
Wyandotte, while another paper, under the different names at different times, of 
Enquirer, Star dCddi Dispatch, but always secessionist, continued for a brief time to 
incite its partisans to overt acts of revolt against the Government. Early in the 
spring the militia pillaged the United States arsenal at Liberty, in Clay county, 
and armed themselves for the defense of the city. 

RAISING THE REBEL FLAG. 

Toward the latter part of April the Unionists raised an American flag on the 
public square just east of the market house. This gave great offense to the 
secessionists, and they proceeded at once to cut the halyards, availing themselves 
of the cover of the darkness of night for that purpose. The flag, however, caught 
in some way at the top of the staff and did not fall as they had intended it should. 
They then determined to offset this circumstance by raising a rebel flag, and pre- 
pared to make the occasion one of great ceremony. Militia companies and volun- 
teer companies were invited from the surrounding country, and responded liberally. 
The day set for the occasion was the 30th of April, and early in the day companies of 
militia and in regular companies came in from Westport, Independence, Sni-a-bar 
township and from Clay county, and uniting with local companies and sympathizing 
citizens and a large concourse of citizens from the country, paraded the streets, 
flying a rebel flag, led by bands playing rebel airs. At the same time, 
numerous rebel flags were displayed from residences and business houses in all 
parts of the city. The procession moved to the top of the hill, east of Main and 
north of Second street, near where the county court-house now stands, and raised 
the flag with great eclat, attended with the beating of drums, martial music, 
and the firing of artillery, the gun used on the occasion being one they had stolen 
from the United States Arsenal at Liberty. Speeches of the most inflammatory 
character were made and cheered to the echo by an excited concourse of people, 
large for those days. Union people feeling it unsafe to remain in the city after this 
demonstration, began to pack their property and fly. 




KANSAS CITY TIMES BUILDING. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 101 

THE INCREASE OF THE EXCITEMENT. 

At the spring election the question of secession or Union had come squarely 
before the people, R. T. Van Horn being the candidate of the Union men, and 
Dr. Maughs, the incumbent, the candidate of the secessionists, and the Unionists 
had been victorious. But when Mayor Van Horn came into office he found 
himself almost powerless to preserve order, for among other acts of the Legisla- 
ture during the winter, was one creating a metropolitan police system for 
Kansas City, granting the commissioners extraordinary powers, so that through 
them the Governor might bind Kansas City to the cause of secession, no matter 
how the people might vote. Hence, Mayor Van Horn found himself unable to 
control that important part of the municipal machinery, or direct its use to the 
preservation of public order. 

All the spring was spent by the people in excitement and preparations for the 
struggle. Gov. Jackson meantime marshaling his militia forces. The first formal 
assemblage of these was at Camj) Jackson, St. Louis, where they were dispersed 
by Gen. Lyon, May loth. The news of this affair proved very exciting through- 
out the State, and nowhere more so than in Kansas City. On the 15th, Mayor 
Van Horn issued a proclamation urging the people to quietude, and forbidding 
all unlawful and tumultuous assemblages. Excitement now ran very high, and 
more of the Union men left the city. But Mayor Van Horn found himself pow- 
erless to preserve order in the city, as the police had not only been taken from 
under his control but had actually become a source of apprehension to Unionists. 
In this situation, and with the secessionists arming all over the State and breath- 
ing threatenings toward Union men, nothing was left them but to prepare for de- 
fense or abandon their homes. Mayor Van Horn then went to St. Louis, by the 
way of St. Joseph, and obtained authority from Gen. Lyon to recruit a battalion 
of troops for the defense of Kansas City, and procured an order, also, for 
troops to be sent here from Fort Leavenworth to protect Union men while being 
enlisted. 

MILITAY OCCUPATION. 

In pursuance of this order. Captain Prince, U. S. A., with two companies 
of infantry and three of cavalry came to Kansas City, June 12th, and took up 
camp on the hill, near the Catholic church. This was the first military occupa- 
tion of this city. 

As soon as it became known that Federal troops were coming, the secession- 
ists began to withdraw and collect at Independence. The next day after his ar- 
rival, Captain Prince sent Captain Stanley (since better known as Gen. Stanley), 
with a party of soldiers, under a flag of truce, to interview Captain Ha'Uoway, 
who had command of the secessionists collected at Independence, to ascertain his 
purposes, etc. Captain Halloway was very equivocal in his replies to Captain 
Stanley, and as the latter saw evidences of hostilities among Halloway's men, he 
ordered his own to retire, when fire was opened upon him. A sharp fight en- 
sued, in which the secessionists were repulsed, with a loss of three killed. Cap- 
tain Halloway, J. B. McClanahan and a Mr. Harbaugh, while Samuel Ralson 
and Pery Stonestreet were wounded. This was the first fight in Jackson county. 
The rebels then retired to Blue Springs, and the next day Captain Prince went 
with part of his command to Independence, and after marching about the town, 
returned to camp in this city. 

While these events were transpiring at Kansas City, matters were assuming 
more definite shape throughout the State. On the 12th of June Gov. Jackson 
issued a call for fifty thousand troops to repel the Federal forces. With what 
forces he could collect under Gen. Sterling Price, he retired from Jefferson City 
to Boonville, burning the railroad bridges across the Osage and Gasconade rivers, 



102 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

and on the 17th the battle of Boonville was fought, soon after which Price and 
Jackson, with their forces, were driven to the southwest. 

On the 19th of June the secession paper in this city suspended. On the 
20th news of the battle of Boonville was received, and the secessionists who 
then had a large encampment at Blue Springs removed to Lexington. On the 
24th Mayor Van Horn's battalion being fully recruited, was mustered in and 
organized, with Mayor Van Horn as major. Captain Prince then withdrew, 
leaving Major Van Horn in command of the post. One of his first acts was to 
disband the disloyal metropolitan police force. 

Van Horn's battalion was organized as follows : Major R. T. Van Horn ; 
Surgeon, Joshua Thorne; Company A, Captain, William Van Dau; First 
Lieutenant, Frederick Loos; Second Lieutenant, Frederick Klinger: Company 
B, Captain, William Millar: First Lieutenant, David Cahill, Second Lieutenant, 
David O'Neil: Company C, Captain, George C. Bingham; First Lieutenant, 
Henry Spears; Second Lieutenant, Theo. S. Case. 

Dr. Thorne immediately made arrangements for the opening of a hospital. 
Lieutenant Case was detailed on the date of his muster-in as quartermaster, com- 
missary and ordinance officer of the post. 

On the26th of July, Major Van Horn received orders to take two companies 
of his battalion, and go to the assistance of Colonel A. G. Newgent, who, in 
command of a battalion of Missouri State Militia, at Austin, in Cass county, was 
threatened by a superior force. The command took up line of march immedi- 
ately. On the 28th, when three miles from Harrisonville, they were attacked by 
about five hundred secessionists, and after a fight of four hours repulsed them, 
killing fourteen and losing one. D. K. Abeel and Captain Bngher acted as aids 
to Major Van Horn in this engagement, and both distinguished themselves for 
gallantry and courage. At midnight that night, Major Van Horn retired from 
the field. Harrisonville was full of the enemy, who was being constantly re-in- 
forced ; and Captain Dean had surrounded Westport, where there was a large 
party of the enemy, and needed his assistance; but near Jonesville, the command 
was met by Colonel Newgent's forces, and also by a party of the First Kansas, 
under Colonel Weir. 

The united force returned to Harrisonville, and, after a brief engagement, 
took it after which the Kansas City battalion returned home. 

In the early part of September, the rebels, to the number of about 2,000, 
gathered at Blue Springs, and were preparing to attack Kansas City, when Colo- 
nel Peabody, who, with his regiment, the Thirteenth Missouri Infantry, were at 
St. Joseph, were ordered here. The rebels then moved down to Lexington, to 
attack that place, and Peabody, with his command, and Major Van Horn, with 
Companies B and C of his, went down there to reinforce Colonel Mulligan. 
General Sterling Price laid siege to the place on the 6th of September, and main- 
tained it until the entire force surrendered to him on September 21st. Through 
the entire siege the Kansas City battalion was in active service. It was part of 
the force that had the severe fight in the lane, on the 12th, which was the severest 
fighting of the entire siege — four companies, under Major Van Horn, there en- 
gaging Price's entire army. On the 19th, Colonel Peabody was wounded, and 
the command devolved upon Major Van Horn, until he was wounded, and borne 
from the fight about two hours before the surrender. After the surrender, the 
officers and men of the battalion were released on parole, until exchanged in 
December, when the battalion was consolidated with Colonel Peabody's Thir- 
teenth Missouri Infantry, with Major Van Horn as Lieutenant-Colonel, and the 
united command became the memorable Twenty-fifth Missouri Infantry, which 
was sent south, distinguishing itself in many of the battles on the march from 
Belmont to Vicksburg. 

Lieutenant Case, who had been detailed for special duty as quartermaster 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 103 

commissary and ordnance officer of the post at Kansas City, when the battalion 
was organized, continued in that position until June, 1862, when he was promot- 
ed to the rank of Captain and A. Q. M.; after which he continued as quarter- 
master at the post until the spring of 1863, when part of western Missouri and 
eastern Kansas were organized into the District of the Border, at which time he 
became quartermaster for the district. In the spring of 1864, the District of the 
Border was abolished, and he was assigned to duty as quartermaster of the Dis- 
trict of central Missouri, with headquarters at Warrensburg. In March, 1865, 
he availed himself of an opportunity to resign, offered to all officers who desired 
to leave the service, and in June following accepted the position of Quarter- 
Master General of the State on the staff of Gov. Thos. C. Fletcher. 

Dr. Thorne continued in charge of the hospital at Kansas City until the close 
of the war. In the spring of 1863, when the District of the Border was created, 
it became a general hospital, and as such received several thousand sick and 
wounded soldiers during the war. 

GUERRILLAS AND RED LEGS. 

In the formative period of the great struggle, the spring and summer of 1861, 
there was a general uprising of the people of Missouri. The Union men formed 
into companies of home guards, and the rebels were also marshaled into hostile 
bands. The ordinary avocations of life were in a great measure abandoned, and 
every neighborhood was divided into hostile and warring factions, fully realizing 
all the conditions of internecine war. Under the President's call for three 
months' troops in April, there were several regiments organized in Missouri and 
several in Kansas. About the time these were disbanded in the fall of that year 
there were several marauding bands organized in Kansas for the purpose of prey- 
ing upon the rebels across the border in Missouri. The most prominent of these 
were Montgomery's in southern Kansas, a band of old free-state men of 1856, 
who seem never to have been entirely disbanded ; Cleveland's band in northern 
Kansas, and Col. Jennison's seventh Kansas regiment, which appears to have 
been so largely made up of the same class of men that it became as notorious in 
1861-62 as jayhawkers as either of the other bands. Besides these there were 
many smaller bands, irregular and unauthorized in their formation, whose sole 
object seems to have been plunder. Over the border in Missouri there were sim- 
ilar organizations of rebels. These were composed of secessionists who had not 
joined Price's army and gone south, but remained to prosecute an irregular war- 
fare upon the people of Missouri and the borders of Kansas. All the country 
adjacent to this city was infested with these bands. On the west and south were 
Montgomery, Jennison and sometimes Cleveland, and to the south, east and north 
were bush-whackers under Todd, Parker, Jackman and Quantrell. From the 
spring of 1861 to the fall of 1864, these irregular bands hemmed in Kansas 
City on all sides, so that it was very hazardous for people to get here to trade, 
although there was no regular foe to interfere with them. The Santa Fe trade 
suffered as much as any other, and was for time nearly cut off. The trade of 
southern Kansas, which had previously come to Kansas City, was diverted to 
Leavenworth. During all this time teams were scarcely permitted to come to 
Kansas City from that section, or to go from Kansas City to any part of southern 
Kansas. The irregular bands operating in Kansas, better known as the Red 
Legs, were largely composed of Kansans who had a grudge against Missouri 
because of the old struggle of 1855-56, and they, therefore, left nothing undone 
that would hurt Kansas City, because she was a Missouri town. It was largely 
through their operations that the trade of Southern Kansas was diverted to 
Leavenworth, for trains going to that place were not molested. 

Fort Leavenworth was military headquarters, and the depot of supply for the 
army on the border, hence she had a large trade and grew rapidly. Boating on 



104 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

the Missouri was rendered hazardous, and the Government took so many of the 
boats for military use, that the trade between Kansas City and St. Louis was 
quite broken up. The Platte Country Raihoad was built from St. Joseph across 
to Weston by the year 1863, so that all trade which had previously come up the 
river now came by way of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and the Platte 
County Railroad, and made -Leavenworth headquarters. Leavenworth also be- 
came the headquarters of the Red Legs, at least the place where their booty 
was disposed of, and became so notorious in that regard that in 1863 Gov. Ewing 
placed it under martial law, as a means of ridding it of the miscreants. The 
Leavenworth press all the time made the most of Kansas City's misfortune to 
warn people against coming here. 

From the arrival of Capt. Prince, Kansas City continued in military occupa- 
tion. In 1862, one Lieutenant-Colonel Buel had command here with head- 
quarters at Lidependence. He was strongly accused of sympathy with the 
bush-whackers, and whether guilty or not, his administration was not calculated 
to extirpate them. Maj. Banzaf with a battalion of the First Missouri cavalry 
then occupied Kansas City. On the 23d of March, that year, Quantrell killed 
two men, and burned the bridge across the Blue. On the 25th he was routed at 
Tait's house, sixteen miles from this city by Maj. Pomeroy, of the Second Kan- 
sas. On the 29th the guerrilla Parker was captured at Warrensburg. On the 
13th of April Quantrell was again routed on the Little Blue, and again on the 
17th, near Raytown. These facts are sufficient to show the general condition of 
things existing here at that time. Col. Buel permitted the establishment of the 
rebel paper, and it continued to foster the spirit of rebellion and bush-whacking. 
This condition, this frequency of small fights, was continuous, until near the close 
of 1863. The brush on the one side of this city was literally full of bush-whack- 
ers, and the prairies covered with Red Legs. 

In 1862 the militia of Missouri was all enrolled. The regiment raised in this 
city was numbered 77th; Kersey Coates was colonel and Frank Foster, lieutenant- 
colonel. None of this militia was ever called upon to do much, and that only 
in their own locality. During these years, from the spring of 1861 until the au- 
tumn of 1863, the adjacent parts of Missouri were in an entirely lawless condition. 
The civil power was entirely suspended ; while the country was completely over- 
run by small parties of Federal and Confederate troops, between whom fights and 
skirmishes were of frequent occurrence, beside which, it was equally overrun by 
the irregular bands of guerrillas and bush-whackers on the one side, and jayhawk- 
ers and Red Legs on the other. There was absolutely no security for either life or 
property ; industrial and productive pursuits were impossible ; people on all sides 
were ruthlessly robbed of whatever they possessed that could tempt robbers, and 
many men were murdered at their homes for no better reason than that they 
were found there. 

TRADE. 

Trade, under such circumstances as have been described, was manifestly 
much embarrassed, yet our city continued to do some business with the 
southwest and west, and remained, by reason of military protection, the headquar- 
ters for the remnant of the Santa Fe trade. The long talked of express to Pike's 
Peak was realized in May, 1861, and that and the Santa Fe mail continued 
through the war, tiiough robbed several times. 

T\\Q Jourruil 0/ Cojnmerce, which had suspended March 7th, 1861, was re- 
sumed as an extra or bulletin May 15th ; stopped again August 20th, and revived 
again, full size, in March, 1862. Some time in the spring of 1862, Mr. McRey- 
nolds started the Intelligencer, which soon expired, and in June, 1862, the Press 
was started, but continued only a brief time. 

Soon after Samuel Hallett became connected with the construction of the 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



105 



Union Pacific Railroad, he issued a circular relative to the trade of the various 
points on the Missouri River across the plains from 1857 to 1863, some extracts 
from which will serve to illustrate the effects of the existing situation on the trade 
of Kansas City. We insert first a table showing a comparison of river points in 
i860. 

Table showing the amount of freight forwarded across the plains, from the 
various posts on the Missouri River, during the year i860, with the required 
outfit : 



WHERE FROM. 

Kansas^ City . 
Leavenworth . 
Atchison . . . 
St. Joseph . . 
Nebraska City. 
Omaha. . . . 



Total 



POUNDS. 


MEN. 


HORSES. 


MULES. 


OXEN. 


WAGONS. 


^6,439,134 


7,084 


444 


6,149 


27,920 


3,033 


5,656,082 


1,216 




206 


10,425 


1,003 


6,097,943 


i-SPi' 




472 


13,640 


1,280 


1,672,000 


490 




520 


3,98° 


418 


5,496,000 


896 


. . 


113 


11,118 


916 


713,000 


324 


377 


114 


340 


272 


36,074,159 


11,631 


841 


7,574 


67,950 


6,922 



Note. — In the above table the government freight forwarded from Kansas 
City to western forts is included in the exhibits; the amount being 7,540,102 
pounds, requiring 1,590 men, 1,307 wagons, 16,260 oxen, and 232 mules; cost 
of transportation, $890,300. 

EXPORTS OF NEW MEXICO AND COLORADO 1857 TO 1863. 

Table showing the kind, amount and value of the exports of Colorado and 
New Mexico received at the port of Kansas City from 1857 to 1863, inclusive : 



















C 


H 




WOOL. 


DRY 


HIDES. 


BUFFALO ROBES. 


PELTS A 


ND FURS. 

< 


c 
u 

5. 


E. 


YEAR. 




3 

3 


< 




c 
3 
a. 


<: 
— 

n 


C 

3 
a- 


< 
Si. 
n 




C 
3 
Q. 
























(XI 

•a 
o_ 
n' 






1857. 


465,000 


$ 69,750.00 


32,440 


$2,919.60 


25,000 


100,000 


32,900 


$7,740.00 


$225,000.00 


$405,409.60 


1858. 


525,500 


78,725.00 


58,756 


5,887.60 


21,750 


87,000 


35,460 


8,154.00 


200,000.00 


379,754.60 


1859. 


456,751 


68,572.65 


58,812 


6,469.32 


7,040 


29,375 


38,720 


7,744.00 


192,019.20 


304,120.17 


1860. 


349,799 


52,369.85 


98,875 


9,966.25 


3,622 


16,299 


25, 115 


6,863.00 


300,644.00 


386,172.10 


1861. 


590,731 


118,146.20 


38,202 


3,820.20 


2,440 


10,980 


10,742 


2,475.52 


158,585 50 


284,007.42 


1862. 


640,925 


160,231.50 


29,645 


2,964.50 


740 


3,700 


7,460 


2,981.60 


31, SSL 00 


205,308.35 


1863. 


954,951 


286,285.30 


67.96S 


6,796.80 


1,900 


9,500 


113, 129 


38,. 384. 15 


546,500.00 


346,6 


31.25 



The great increase in the value of freight in 1863 was owing to the large per- 
centage of dry goods and manufactured articles forwarded, and their extreme low 
prices. 

IMPORTS OF NEW MEXICO AND COLORADO 1 85 7 TO I 863. 

Table showing the amounts and estimated value of freight transported to 
New Mexico and Colorado from Kansas City from 1857 to 1863 inclusive, with 
the number of men, oxen, horses, mules, and wagons required, the value of the 
outfit, and the cost of transportation : 



106 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



Amounts, pounds . . . 

Value 

Cost of Transportation. 

Value of Outfit 

Men 

Oxen 

Horses 

Mules 

Wagons 



1857 



27,705,000 

$ 4,199,850 

222,345,000 

3,053,500 

5,428 

4,150 

494 

7,7§6 

4,941 



1858 



1859 



25,365,000 7,484,390 

$ 4,465,500$ 1,172,450 

228,285,000 673,587.10 

3,662,500 917,200 



4,088 

42,270 

568 

5,460 

5,073 



1,746 

12,840 

371 

1,582 
1,497 



1860 



21,547,718 

f 3,340,200 

2,150,985 44 

2,609,575 

4,993 

36,686 

387 

7,325 

4,012 



1861 



1862 



5,040,840 5,740,540 
2,094,000$ 2,285,400 



453,675.60 

1,012,900 

1,328 

8,393 



3,209 
1,396 



530,679.95 

882,308 

1,404 

9,146 



2,794 
1,172 



1863 



7,281,491 

$ 3,785.500 

691,741.64 

1,132,805 

1,798 

13, 335 



1,515 
2,476 



RAILROAD PROGRESS. 

The construction of railroads which had been stopped with the beginning of 
trouble in 1861, began to be agitated again in 1862. In May of that year Con- 
gress passed the Union Pacific Railroad bill. This bill provided for one main line 
from this city with a branch to St. Joseph by way of Atchison, one to Omaha, 
and one to Sioux City, and authorized the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western 
Railway Company to construct a line from that city to intersect the main line on 
the same terms as the branches were built. Besides some surveying done by Col. 
Midbery, of Ohio, nothing was done on this road until 1863. In June, 1862, 
Messrs. Ross, Steele & Co., took a contract to build three hundred and 
fifty miles of the road and soon thereafter commenced operations at Leavenworth, 
on the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Branch. This company had no means 
and did but little. In June, 1863, Gen. John C. Fremont and Samuel Hallett 
took the contract to build the main line, and bought out the franchise of the 
Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Branch. About the same time work was re- 
sumed on the Pacific Railroad in Missouri on a contract to complete seventeen 
miles of the line eastward from this city. It was expected to have the road com- 
pleted to Independence by November, and finished early in 1864. On the 7th 
of July ground was broken for the Union Pacific Railroad at this city. By No- 
vember 1 8th the first forty miles of the Union Pacific were graded, when there 
arose a controversy between Samuel Hallett on the one side and Fremont and 
Ross, Steele & Co. on the other, which with the approaching cold weather, 
stopped active operations. The Missouri Pacific, however, was not thus fortu- 
nate. The woods along the line were so full of bush-whackers that work had to 
be stopped. In August Cole Younger, with a party, burned Pleasant Hill, and 
Quantrell sallied forth from his headquarters in the Missouri borders, in August, 
and on the 21st burned and sacked Lawrence, retreating again to Missouri to 
renew his depredations. 

A MEMORABLE EPOCH. 

Prior to this, in the spring of 1863, it had been determined to dislodge the 
bush-whackers and guerrillas, who were operating in western Missouri, and to 
that end the District of the Border, embracing part of western Missouri and east- 
ern Kansas had been erected, and on the 15th of April Gen. Blunt was placed 
in command with headquarters at Kansas City. His methods did not, however, 
prove vigorous enough to accomplish the end designed, and on the i6th of June 
he was superseded by Gen. Ewing, whose policy, though more vigorous, was not 
sufficiently so to clear the woods of the predatory bands or prevent the affairs 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 107 

above referred to, owing to the sympathy of a large part of the people of Missouri 
with them. 

The affairs above mentioned seemed to call for more vigorous measures still, 
and it appeared then, to the satisfaction of Gen. Ewing, who commanded the 
District, and of Gen. Schofield, who commanded the department, that the only 
effective way of ridding the country of bush-whackers, would be to rid it also of 
their aiders and abettors among the people. Accordingly, on the 23rd of August, 
Gen. Ewing promulgated his celebrated Order No. 11. 

This order was rigidly enforced, and it made a desolation of all the country 
embraced in it. It stopped for a time all bush-whacking, and filled Kansas City 
and Independence with the refugee peo'ple. 

In November, Gen. Ewing issued General Order No. 20, which provided for 
the return of all loyal people to their homes, and during the winter of 1863-4, 
the provisions of order No. 11 were entirely removed. In February, 1864, the 
District of the Border was abolished, Gen. Ewing was ordered to Pilot Knob and 
Col. Ford, of the Second Colorado Cavalry succeeded him in command at Kan- 
sas City, with headquarters at Independence. 

THE RAILROADS AGAIN. 

When the river froze up in December, 1863, the Union Pacific Railroad 
had received at St. Joseph, iron and equipments for forty miles of road but could 
not get them to Kansas City until spring opened. The winter was spent in pur- 
chasing ties and making arrangements for a vigorous prosecution of the work in 
the spring. 

Early in the winter the Leavenworth people invited Mr. Hallett to visit them. 
He much desired a connection to the east that would not subject him to the exi- 
gencies of river navigation, and they, the previous winter, had got through the 
Missouri Legislature, a charter for a road from that place to Cameron. Mr. 
Hallett went, accompanied by Mr. S. W. Bouton, of this city, and found that 
they wanted to turn over their charter and get him to work up the interest and 
built the road. This was a critical time for Kansas City, for had that arrange- 
ment been consummated, it would have given Leavenworth the Cameron Railroad 
sCnd the bridge, and secured for her future pre-eminence. Mr. Bouton saw the 
danger, and used his best efforts, with success, to induce Mr. Hallett not to make 
a contract with them until after he should return to this city, promising him that 
if he would come back here he would procure for him all rights and franchises of 
the Cameron road from this city, on which $168,000 had already been expended, 
and the road-bed of which was already completed. Mr. Hallett returned, and 
Mr. Bouton called the company together and got it organized as follows : Col. 
Coates, President ; J. M. Jones, Vice-President ; S. W. Bouton, Secretary ; W. A. 
Morton, Treasurer; Col. Coates, M. J. Payne, E. M. McGee, C. A. Carpenter, 
S. W. Bouton, T. S. Case, J. M. Jones, Mr. Deering and Mr. Hall, Directors. 
Mr. Bouton then got himself appointed attorney for the transfer of the stock of Kan- 
sas City and Clay county, and offered the road to Mr. Hallett as a gift. This had 
occupied the time till July, 1864,, and Mr. Hallett appointed the 28th of that 
month to come over to this city and execute the necessary contract, when he was 
suddenly assassinated by O. G. Talcott, one of his engineers. 

An incident in connection with this negotiation of Mr. Bouton with Mr. 
Hallett ought to be told, though it never was very generally known here in Kan- 
sas City. At the preceding fall election Col. Van Horn had been elected to the 
State Senate, and Messrs. E. M. McGee and M.J. Payne to the House. A leave 
of absence had been granted Col. Van Horn from the army and he was in Jeffer- 
son City at the time. As soon as Mr. Bouton returned from Leavenworth he 
made the draft of two bills and sent them to Col. Van Horn to be passed. One 
of them amended the character of the Leavenworth & Cameron Railroad by 



108 ' ■ HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

diverting it at Platte City to Weston, six miles above Leavenworth; the other 
suspended the operation of the general incorporation law of the State in Platte 
county, so that a new road could not be started under its provisions. The three 
gentlemen at Jefferson City soon got the bills passed and thus left Leavenworth 
without a charter that was worth anything to anybody. 

While these negotiations were pending, there was much activity in railroad 
matters. The press began the agitation of a railroad to Olathe and Fort Scott. 
Some favorable legislation for the Missouri Pacific was secured in the Legisla- 
ture that winter, which so encouraged the people of this city as to call forth the 
greatest rejoicing at a public meeting held for that purpose February ii, 1864. 
In February the Union Pacific company was re-oganized in St. Louis, at which 
General Fremont was dropped out ; and John D. Perry of the Missouri Pacific, 
became vice-president and acting president. This led to another difficulty and 
more litigation between Hallett & Co. , on the one hand, and Fremont and Ross, 
Steele & Co., on the other, but the latter was defeated, and the Government 
recognized the former as the rightful company. In February the Missouri Pacific 
began laying track between Warrensburg and Dresden, and grading between 
Warrensburg and Pleasant Hill. On the 24th of March the first locomotive and 
boat load of iron for the Union Pacific arrived at Wyandotte from St. Joseph. 

About this time the Union Pacific company directed its engineers to make a 
survey of the route of a road that had been chartered and had a land grant from 
Lawrence southward to the State line, now the K. C. , L. & S. R. R., and also of 
the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, which also had a land grant, from 
Topeka to the western State line. 

Mr. Hallett, expecting to obtain control of the Kansas City and Cameron 
road, and wanting no rival line, caused himself to be elected a director in the 
Parkville & Grand River Railroad, and thus obtained control of it. This road 
had almost as much work done on it as had been done on the Kansas City and 
Cameron road and ran from Parkville, eight miles above Kansas City, to Came- 
ron. 

In April the Missouri Pacific company determined to complete the line between 
Kansas City and Independence, and in June sent the first engine and iron for the 
track to Kansas City. 

In May the interest in the Kansas City and Fort Scott road began to look up, 
and a meeting in that interest was held at Paola. 

In June, a treaty was made with the Delaware Indians for the surrender of 
their lands in Kansas, one of the provisions of which was, that a railroad should 
be built with the proceeds of the lands between this city and Leavenworth. 
This road is now the extension of the Missouri Pacific up the river from this city. 
About this time it was announced that the Union Pacific would be completed 
and opened to Lawrence on the i8th of August, but owing to the assassination of 
Mr. Hallett in July, it was not so opened until December 19th. 

In June 1864, the North Missouri Railroad Company came into possession of 
the charter and franchises of the Missouri Valley Railway Company, which was to 
build a line from Brunswick up the river to St. Joseph. Leavenworth turned her 
attention to this road, but effected nothing. It has since been built to this city, 
and is now the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific. 

In September, a pontoon bridge was thrown across the Kaw between this 
city and Wyandotte — the first bridge between the two places. 

THE GREAT RAID OF 1864. 

These enterprising measures were in progress only because of the practical 
freedom of Missouri from rebels and bush-whackers; but they were not destined 
to continue without interruption from that source. In August it was discovered 
that Vallandigham, of Ohio, had, during his banishment, formed a conspiracy at 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 109 

Richmond to arouse the secession sympathies of the North, and during his stay- 
in Canada had so far perfected the organization that associations of them had 
been formed throughout the North and West. Many of the prominent men 
engaged in it were immediately arrested, but not enough to stop it. A raid by 
Price into Missouri was to be the signal of their uprising, and that raid was to be 
made in October. He entered the State with about 18,000 men, by way of Pilot 
Knob, where he had a severe fight with Gen. Ewing, Sept, 27th. Ewing 
retreated, but contested his march again at Harrisonville, from the 27th to the ist 
of October. 

Price then continued his victorious march to the northwest, fighting at al- 
most every step, and gathering reinforcements as he went. His entrance into the 
State was signalized by an uprising of his sympathizers throughout the State. The 
woods were again swarming witl\ them, as in 1861. The very bushes seemed 
to hear them as they bear leaves, and even as far north as Atchison county the 
old scenes of 1861 were being repeated. Union men were equally prompt to 
rise. Missouri and Kansas were placed under martial law, and every man capa- 
ble of bearing arms was ordered out. It was a time of the utmost excitement 
and agitation. There was but one cry — to arms ! to arms ! — and throughout the 
two States there was but one employment — preparing for the fray. About the 
26th of October Gen. Blunt was driven out of Lexington. On the 21st there 
was serious fighting at Little Blue, Col. Moonlight's command of Kansas troops, 
engaging the entire army. Col. Ford, with the Second Colorado, abandoned 
Independence, and there seemed to be nothing but fire and pillage in store for 
Kansas City. However, General Curtis, in command of the Department of 
Kansas and General Rosecrans, in command of the Department of Missouri 
gathered force fast enough to divert Price to the southwest. From Little Blue 
he moved up the road toward Kansas City, until he reached the Big Blue, at a 
point where the roads for Kansas City and Westport cross. Here another sharp 
fight occurred. Thence Price turned toward Westport, and another fight 
occurred at that place. And from there he went south, fighting all the way. 
While these movements were being executed and these battles fought between 
Price's main army and the forces against him, fighting between smaller parties 
was going on all over the county, and north of the river in Clay, and adjacent 
counties. Price had sent out recruiting parties and his forces gathered fast, so 
that although he was in the State but little more than a month, and was fighting 
all the while, he left it with about 12,000 men more than he brought with him. 

This was the last raid into Missouri, and, aside from bush-whacking, was the 
end of the war for this city. Peaceful pursuits were resumed, but the disorder 
and damage to the railroad enterprises in which Kansas City was interested, was 
such that nothing more was done on them that year except the Union Pacific, 
which was opened to Lawrence in December. The Missouri Pacific was so injur- 
ed that it had to ask for aid to repair the damage, which was given by St. Louis, 
under authority of the Legislature, to the extent of $700,000, in January 1865. 



110 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

CHAPTER XI. 
A GREAT ERA IN KANSAS CITY. 

The Close of the War — The Resumption of Railroad Construction — Seven Roads and the Bridge 
Completed Before iS'jo — Other Railroad Enterprises not Finished — Rapid Growth — Schools 
and Street Improvements — Population Grown from j,joo to 30,000. 

With the beginning of 1865 the country adjacent to this city was in compar- 
ative peace. Many of the bush-whackers who had infested the country had gone 
south with Price, in his great raid of 1864, and others were in winter quarters. 
Sherman and Grant were closing in on the rebeUion, and there appeared to be 
good reason to beheve that, so far as this part of the country was concerned, 
there would be no more war. The people began, therefore, to cast about them, 
and collect the fragments of fortunes and business, and prepare for the future. 
At this time the population of our city had fallen off to between three and four 
thousand, her streets were out of repair, her houses dilapidated, and her trade 
practically gone. Leavenworth, having been her most formidable rival before 
the war, had, during the struggle, been the headquarters of army operations, and 
had prospered while this city suffered. She had grown to be a city of about 
eighteen thousand, had secured control of the Southern Kansas trade, and a part 
of the trade of New Mexico and Colorado. This city seemed to be well nigh 
out of the race for commercial supremacy, and would have been so regarded had 
it not been for her well demonstrated natural advantages, and the fact that the 
main line of the Union Pacific Railway started at this city, and was already in 
operation to Lawrence ; and the fact that the Missouri Pacific was nearly com- 
pleted. These gave heart to her citizens to renew the struggle, and an era of un- 
precedented activity followed. 

Leavenworth, meantime, confident of ultimately securing a road to a con- 
nection with the Union Pacific, and also one from Cameron, thought to secure 
the Missouri Pacific also, and to that end voted four hundred thousand dollars in 
January, to build a road to a connection with it at this city. 

THE SPRING OF 1865. 

In February, the localities in interest obtained from the Missouri Legislature 
a charter for a road from Kansas City to Iowa State line, in the direction of 
Council Bluffs, by the way of St Joseph, and embracing what had been built of 
the Kansas City & St. Joseph Railroad from St. Joseph to Weston. 

About the same time, the interest in the road to Fort Scott was renewed, and 
the Kansas Legislature was induced to memorialize Congress for a grant of land 
for it. 

In the month of February, track laying was resumed on the Missouri Pacific, 
and it was progressing finely when March came, and with it the forests began to 
put out leaves, affording shelter for bush-whackers, when the bushes began to 
swarm with them. They cut off trade with adjacent parts of Missouri, and fre- 
quently visited the line of the Missouri Pacific, and robbed and stopped its hands. 
General Pope was appealed to for aid in suppressing them, but to no effect. He 
informed Governor Fletcher that the civil authorities must deal with them by civil 
process, and thus left this part of the State at their mercy. In May, a large force 
of them assembled near Lexington — three hundred and fifty was the estimate — 
and threatened to burn and sack the town. They seemed here to receive the 
first information they would credit of the collapse of the rebeUion, and a large 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. Ill 

party of them, under Bill Poole, went into Lexington, and surrendered. Others 
took to the bushes, but gave little trouble after that. 

The southern Kansas trade began to come back to Kansas City, the people 
of that part of the State finding, as before the war, that they could reach Kansas 
City much better than Leavenworth. Steamers again began to ply on the Mis- 
souri ; the trade of New Mexico and Colorado were resumed, with all their old 
proportions, and improvements began to be made in the city. The revival of 
trade in the city was so rapid when military embargoes had been raised, and the 
natural laws of commerce were allowed full operation, that by the close of May, 
according to the Journal reports, twenty-eight million tons of freight had been 
discharged by steamers at the levee here. 

In May, Colonel Van Horn and Mr. Hallowell bought the Journal of Com- 
merce horn T. D. Thacher, who had purchased it of Mr. Abeel in May, 1863. 
It immediately took up the old strain of i860, about railroads and imjDrovements, 
and rallied the people about the old enterprises in which the city had been engag- 
ed before the war. It urged the re-organization of the Chamber of Commerce, 
which had been so prolific and fostering a parent of enterprises before the war, 
and of which it had been the organ and advocate. It urged upon the people in 
every way possible the importance of unity and action — prompt and decisive. It 
did more at this particular procedure to arouse the people, than all other agencies 
combined, and remarshaled them to the struggle for commercial development as 
potently as ever trumpet or drum-beat marshaled soldiers to the fray. One of 
its editorials, taken from its files of August 3, 1865, is here appended, as a sample 
of the terse and inspiriting articles, with which its columns, at this period, were 
filled : 

" There is a tide in the affairs of men — and the same is true of cities. We 
are now approaching the flood. If taken advantage of, we shall be carried on 
to fortune. If we do not act at the tide of our opportunities, our future history 
will be a record of failure and humiliation. 

" The present is bright ; we can, if we wish to be, the architects of our own 
fortune. To be so, we must be earnest, industrious and enterprising. Visions of 
the future show half a dozen railroads converging at this point ; it shows the river 
port for the plains ; a point of transshipment for the minerals, the wool and other 
products of the south, southwest and west, as also the articles from the east 
and foreign countries. It shows us the great central mart for the distribution of 
the wealth of half a continent — rich, powerful and magnificent. Providence 
never assisted a lazy man — fortune never smiled on an indolent community. The 
price paid for prosperity is labor, energy, enterprise. With a live policy — by 
throwing old fogy notions to the winds — by placing our mark high and vt^orking 
up to it, we shall become in two or three years all that we have described. 

" The converse of this picture is easily realized. Our advantages are sought 
by others. Our natural advantages alone will never overcome the efforts of rival 
enterprise. If we rely upon them we shall become neutral ground — a passway of 
value to railroad corporations, but of no intrinsic power of our own. Prosperity 
must come from within; it must spring from the city — from the people. Let us 
all make sacrifices in order to start the impulse in the proper direction — let us all 
put our strength to the work. Large property owners can give sites for mills, 
factories, etc. ; citizens can subscribe stock to work them ; mechanics can build 
tenement houses for operatives. If they produce ten per cent on the outlay, don't 
raise the rent to twenty per cent. If houses are scarce, raising the price of rent 
will not increase the number. Let our people think and act promptly." 

The many articles of this character published by the Journal about this time 
were designed, not so much to arouse the people to action, as to give direction to 
their efforts, and to unify them upon common enterprises and for common pur- 



112 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

poses. They were read by a people ready and willing to act, and eager to attain 
the very objects there urged upon them. 

It was in May that the Journal called the attention of the people to the fact 
that the base of business in this city would soon be changed from the levee, where 
it had always been, to " West Kansas," the " French Bottom" — as it was still 
called — and urged upon the city authorities the importance of opening the cross 
streets leading to it. Third, Fourth, Fifth and Ottawa (now Twelfth), were the 
streets recommended to be opened. In July, the city council negotiated a loan 
of $60,000 for the purpose, and appropriated it to the opening of those streets. 
This change of base brought about by the prospect that the business of the city 
would soon be done by railroad as much as by river, and the Union Pacific and 
Missouri Pacific both terminating at the State line, would, of necessity, have to 
make their depots in the bottom. 

REVIVAL OF RAILROAD ENTERPRISE. 

In July the Chamber of Commerce, which had a sort of ephemeral and spas- 
modic life during the war, was re -organized, and became, as it had been before 
the war, the heart of the city — the focus into which was concentrated her wisdom 
and wealth, and from whence radiated her energies and efforts — and it became 
again, as it had been before the war, a most potent promoter of railroad enter- 
prises. One of the first interests with which it concerned itself was the road 
to Fort Scott. The old Kansas Valley & Neosho company was revived and re- 
organized, with Col. Kersey Coates as president, and active efforts were at once 
begun to secure its construction. The city was urged to vote $200,000 aid to it, and 
a proposition was submitted to the people on the 19th of September. While this 
proposition was pending, on the 14th of September Capt. Chas. Keeler commenced 
work on the road. About the same time the interest in the Kansas City & St. 
Joseph Railroad was revived, and Kansas City was asked to vote it $25,000 to aid 
in its completion from Weston to Kansas City. This proposition was submitted 
to the people at the same time as the proposition for the road to Ft. Scott, and 
both were voted by the people by large majorities. In November following, John- 
son and Miami counties, Kansas, each voted the Fort Scott road $200,000, which 
was regarded as having secured its construction. 

This road, as projected in 1856, was designed to run to Galveston, but of 
course could not get through the Indian Territory without first securing the right- 
of-way by a treaty between the Indians and the Government. This idea was 
taken up with the revival of the project, and the opportunity for such treaty was 
waited and watched for, and was soon presented. 

During the war the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Shawnees, 
Kiowas, Wichitaws, Osages, Commanches, Senecas, Quapaws, and Cherokees, 
in whole or in part, had joined the Rebellion, which was held by the Govern- 
ment to have worked an abrogation of all treaties existing between them and the 
United States, and it was proposed, now that the war was over, to negotiate new 
treaties with them. To this end Judge D. N. Cooly, commissioner of Indian 
affairs, Hon. Elijah Sells, superintendent of the southern superintendency, Col. 
Parker, of General Grant's staff, Gen. Harney, of St. Louis, Thos. Nixon of Phil- 
adelphia, and others were appointed commissioners on the part of the United 
States to negotiate such treaties, and the Indians were notified to meet them at 
Fort Smith on the 5th of September for that purpose. The parties interested in 
this road saw, in this conference, the opportunity they desired to obtain the right 
for their road through the Indian Territory, and a delegation was made up for 
the purpose of attending the conference. The Kansas City delegation was ap- 
pointed by the Chamber of Commerce and consisted of Col. R. T. Van Horn, 
Col. E. M. McGee, Col. M. J. Payne, and Matthew Mudeater, the latter being 
a Wyandotte Indian. Silas Armstrong, of Wyandotte, Col. Wilson, Maj. Rey- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 113 

nolds and Gen. C. VV. Blair, of Fort Scott, Gen. R. B. Mitchell, of Paola, and 
Col. Haines and Gen. Blunt, from other places, constituted the balance of the 
delegation. In the treaties that were made, these gentlemen were successful in 
securing the right of way for a railroad through the territory between Kansas and 
Texas, and, at the instance of St. Louis parties, a like right-of-way was secured 
across the Territory from east to west, which has since been secured by what is 
now known as the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad. 

The interest in the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad, which at this time 
was known as the Kansas City, Galveston & Lake Superior Railroad, was revived 
early in the year. As heretofore stated, this road was partly built before the war 
in pursuance of a contract between this company and the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
Railroad Company by Mr. Quealy. The annual election for directors was held 
April 29th, at which Maj. W. C. Ransom was chosen president. The new direc- 
tors became very active, now that peace had been restored, and at once opened 
negotiations with Mr. Quealy for settlement for the work done by him prior to 
the war, and for a new arrangment for the completion of the work. It also en- 
gaged John A. J. Chapman to make a survey of the river for a bridge, which 
work was completed in September, and a very favorable report made. The com- 
pany also opened negotiations with J. T. R. Hayward, who had been superinten- 
dent of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad before the war and with whom all ante 
bellum negotiations had been had, for a revival of the old contract between this 
company and the Hanibal & St. Joseph company, for the completion of the work. 
No satisfactory arrangement was ever made with Hayward, or with the company, 
until the latter part of 1866; but arrangements were made with Mr. Quealy, and 
work on the road resumed about the close of 1865. In this settlement with Mr. 
Quealy the company* had to pay him more for the work yet to be done than the 
original contract price for the whole work, because of the advance, owing to the 
war, of material and labor, and therefore more aid had to be asked for by the 
company. But it was not until the following year 1866, that anything definite 
was done in this matter. 

The Missouri Pacific, which had been progressing finely all summer, was 
finished September 21st, and opened for business with great rejoicing on the part 
of the people of this city. 

The North Missouri, having obtained control of the charter of the Missouri 
Valley Railroad, as heretofore noticed, resumed operations also as soon as the 
country was free from bush-whackers, and began to push a western branch up the 
Missouri valley. 

In October, D. R. Garrison, prominently connected with the Missouri Pa- 
cific, contracted with the Kansas City & Leavenworth Company, now known as 
the Missouri River Railroad Company, to build that road, and before the close 
of the month had commenced operations. 

JEALOUSIES AND RIVALRIES AGAIN. 

It was now manifest that, as between Kansas City and Leavenworth, the 
natural laws of commerce were all in favor of Kansas City, and there was no better 
feeling among a certain class of Kansas politicians toward Kansas City than had 
existed before the war. Senator James H. Lane, of Lawrence, took up the fight, 
favoring Kansas trade for Kansas towns. He projected an extensive raih-ijad 
scheme for his State, embracing a road from Pleasant Hill to Lawrence, and one 
from Leavenworth, by way of Lawrence, to the southern State line in the direction 
of Fort Gibson. The scheme was to secure to Lawrence the terminus of the 
Kansas Pacific Railroad, and also the railroad which Kansas City had been so 
long laboring to have built to the Gulf of Mexico. Even at this early day St. 
Louis began to see the danger to her trade of building up Kansas City, and 
readily fell into and supported this scheme of Senator Lane, although the effect 




ST. JAMES HOTEL, KANSAS CITY, MO. 
L. C. Alexander, Proprietor. Walnut Street, bet. Missouri Avenue and Sixth Street. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 115 

of it would have been to connect the Kansas railroads with the Hannibal & St. 
Joe as to divert the trades of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas to Chi- 
cago. 

In pursuance of this scheme, and to get his Gulf railroad into the field first, 
Senator Lane caused work to be commenced on that road at Lawrence, June 26th, 
and in October Major B. S. Henning took up his residence in that city and be- 
came superintendent of the road. In November Col. Vliet made a survey of a 
branch to Emporia, authorized by the charter. That same month the Pleasant 
Hill & Lawrence road was surveyed. The first rail was laid on the Atchison & 
Pike's Peak — the central branch of the Union Pacific — and Major O. B. Gunn 
commenced the survey of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe from Atchison. 

THE EVENTS OF 1 866. 

At the session of the Kansas Legislature early in 1866, a bill was passed 
dividing five hundred thousand acres of land given the State for internal improve- 
ments, between the Northern Kansas Railroad, now the St. Joe & Denver; the 
Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad, now the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf; the 
Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch, from Fort Riley along the Neosho Val- 
ley, now the Junction City Branch of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, 
and to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Railroad, now the Kansas 
City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas. By this act the Fort Scott & Gulf got 
twenty-five thousand acres. 

In February Col. Van Horn, who had been elected to Congress in the elec- 
tion in 1864, introduced into the House of Representatives a bill granting cer- 
tain lands in Kansas to the Kansas & Neosho Railroad Company. Also a bill to 
charter a bridge across the river at Kansas City, and to make Kansas City a port 
of entry. All these objects were afterward attained in some shape. The bill 
granting lands to the Fort Scott Railroad became a law in July, and gave that 
road about 800,000 acres. In the bill giving these lands to the Kansas & Neosho 
Valley Railroad, it was also given the franchise through the Indian Territory 
with a grant of land six miles on either side of the track. The bill was fought 
bitterly by Senator Lane. 

The charter for a bridge was procured as an amendment to a bill chartering 
a bridge across the Mississippi at Quincy. 

In February Messrs. Barnard and Mastin started a bank in Kansas City, 
which was succeeded by the Mastin bank; and the First National was started 
not far from the same time, with Maj. G. W. Branham at its head. Early in the 
spring Messrs. Marsh, Hilliker & Co. began the construction of a much-needed 
bridge across the Kaw River between Kansas City and Wyandotte, and it was 
finished and opened in December, with great rejoicings. 

At the same session of the Kansas Legislature above referred to, the name of 
the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Railroad was changed to Leaven- 
worth, Lawrence & Galveston, and not long afterward the Kansas & Neosho 
Valley Railroad changed its name, by an action in court, to Missouri River, Fort 
Scott & Gulf. 

On the 15th of May the first train was run from Leavenworth to Lawrence, 
that branch of the Union Pacific Railroad having been commenced June 26, 
1865, and pushed rapidly through in order to secure a land grant. 

In July Congress chartered the Southern Branch of the Union Pacific Rail- 
way, with the right to run from Fort Riley down the Neosho River to Fort Smith. 
This has since become the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. And that same 
month the Senate confirmed the treaty with the Delaware Indians, by which 
their reservation in Kansas was sold for the benefit of the Missouri River Rail- 
road Company, which had just been completed between Kansas City and Leav- 
enworth. 



116 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Before the close' of the session of Congress in July, a bill introduced by 
Hon. Sidney Clarke, of Kansas, became a law, allowing the Union Pacific Rail- 
road to construct its line up the Smoky Hill Valley instead of up the Republican 
Valley. The original bill required the main line from Kansas City and the branch 
from Omaha, to connect at the looth meridian, between the Platte and Repub- 
lican rivers, in Nebraska. But this bill allowed each to adopt its own line and 
locate the point of junction at any place they might select within one hundred 
miles west of Denver. The main line from this city had then reached Fort Riley, 
and during the year 1866 the western freighting went from that place instead of 
Kansas City, and the mails were also received of the railroad at that point. 

THE CAMERON RAILROAD. 

At the annual election of officers in Ma,y, Col. Charles E. Kearney became 
president of the Kansas City, Lake Superior & Galveston Railroad Company. 
Although work had been commenced on that line January ist. but little had 
been done because of the deficiency of means. But no sooner did Col. Kearney 
become president than he threw into it that force and energy for which he is so 
characteristic, and like all other enterprises with which he ever became connect- 
ed, it was put immediately on the way to success. He laid the situation before 
the people of Kansas City at a meeting held at the court house on the 8th of May, 
and secured on the spot a subscription of $23,000. Committees were appointed 
to seek further subscriptions of aid, and at a meeting held on the 12th, $52,000 
was reported, every dollar of which was promptly paid. This was within $25,000 
of enough to complete the road, and a proposition for the balance was submitted 
to the people of the county, August 7th, and defeated by the rebel element in the 
country precincts, although Kansas City voted almost solidly for it. Work was 
begun immediately, and was pushed rapidly. 

At the time Col. Kearney became president of this company, the board of 
directors, through their president, Maj. W. C. Ransom, was still endeavoring to 
revive the old contract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, under which 
the work done before the war had been done. This contract had been made 
originally though Mr. J. T. K. Hayward, who was at the time superintendent of 
the Hannibal & St. Joseph road. At this time he had ceased to be superintend- 
ent, but represented himself to be a director in the company. Besides Mr. Hay- 
ward, Mr. Brooks, who at this time was in Europe, was the only man connected 
with the Hannibal & St. Joseph road who knew of the old contract, and Mr. 
Hayward was now assuring the Kansas City company that he was laboring to get 
it revived. He was actually deceiving them, and had already made an agree- 
ment with the Leavenworth people to procure a contract between them and the 
Hannibal & St. Joseph company, to build a road from Cameron to Leavenworth. 
Leavenworth had previously, during the war, procured a charter, as stated in the 
last chapter. Col. Kearney was not long in detecting Mr. Hayward's treachery, 
and was just as prompt to institute measures for his defeat. 

The board of directors of the company was called together on the 1st of 
June, and Gen. John W. Reid and Col. T. S. Case were appointed agents lo 
visit Boston and make a contract with the Hannibal company, and Col. Kearney 
immediately telegraphed Col. Coates, who at the time was in Washington, urging 
the passing of the bill granting lands and right of way through the Indian Terri- 
tory to the Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad, to go to Boston and if possible 
stop the Leavenworth contract until they could get there. Col. Coates got to 
Boston on Saturday and found that the contract with Leavenworth had already 
been agreed upon, and was to be executed Monday. On the claim of a prior 
contract he got a stay of proceedings until Col. Case and Gen. Reid arrived. 
When they got there the first men they met were the Leavenworth delegation, in 
the ante-room of the railroad office. They met Col. Coates, succeeded in resur- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 117 

recting the old contract, and when the company saw it they referred the matter 
to James F. Joy, their general western manager. Col. Coates had to go back to 
Washington and Gen. Raid to Baltimore, but Col. Case went and saw Mr. Joy 
and got him into an agreement that this old contract should be revived, provided 
Kansas City would procure congressional authority for a bridge across the river at 
this point. Col. Case returned and reported the contract to Col. Kearney, who 
immediately telegraphed Col. Van Horn in Washington. The next Monday a 
bill was to be reported by the committee on post-offices and post-roads, providing 
for the construction of bridges at Quincy, Clinton and other places. Col. Van 
Horn went immediately to the chairman of that committee and after some diffi- 
culty, and full explanations, got him to agree to admit an amendment providing 
for the bridge at Kansas City. Next morning as soon as the house opened, the 
reading of the minutes were dispensed with and the bill called up. Col. Van 
Horn offered his amendment, it was accepted, and the chairman then moved the 
previous question. While this was being done Hon. Sidney Clarke, of Kansas, 
came in and in the greatest haste drew up an amendment for a bridge at Leaven- 
worth ; but he was too late. The previous question had been seconded and his 
amendment could not be attached. The bill passed, and thus in twenty-four 
hours from the time the agreement with Mr. Joy, was reported in Kansas City, 
all its conditions were complied with on the part of Kansas City, and she had 
a double triumph secured over her rival. 

This was a critical time for Kansas City, and the events just stated probably 
turned the scales in her favor ; for had Leavenworth secured the contract with 
the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, Kansas City would have been left without 
help in the construction of her road. Levenvvorth would then have got the first 
bridge. She was already the terminus of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and had 
a branch of the Union Pacific, hence, the securing of the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
would have made her the railroad center of the Missouri valley. To Col. Kear- 
ney, Kansas City owes a debt of gratitude for his sagacity and promptness, as it 
does also to the other gentlemen connected with its affairs, for their efficiency. 

On the 19th of August a party of engineers, under Col. O. Chanute, com- 
menced a new survey of the river for the bridge. On the loth of November 
Col. Kearney began to advertise for materials for the bridge, and on the ist of 
December he let contracts for its construction to Messrs. Vipont & Walker. 

The securing a charter for a bridge, and the activity in organizing for its con- 
struction, caused the North Missouri Railroad Company to determine in August 
to terminate its western branch at Kansas City instead of Leavenworth, as it had 
proposed, and in October it let the contract for the immediate construction of the 
road to J. Condit Smith. 

Meantime, August 2 2d, the favorable situation in which the Missouri River, 
Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad had been placed by the land grant and charter through 
the Indian Territory, it was enabled to contract for the building of the road, and 
Col. A. H. Waterman & Co. were engaged to build the first hundred 'miles. 

ST. LOUIS OPENS THE FIGHT ON KANSAS CITY. 

With the concentration of railroads at Kansas City, the town began to grow 
rapidly. The immigration to Kansas at the close of the war was immense, and 
its trade demands were in proportion to its magnitude. More wholesale houses 
began to be opened, street improvements became active and rapid, and the devel- 
opment of the city began to be something unparalleled in American annals. It is 
stated by the Journal of Ccnnmerce, that during the years 1865 ^^^ 1866, not less 
than six hundred new houses were built. 

This rapid growth, the concentration of railroads and business, alarmed St, 
Louis as early as 1865, and was the cause of her falling so readily into Senator 
Lane's railroad schemes. In 1866 she became much more frightened, and did all 



118 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

she could to foster the Pleasant Hill and Lawrence Railroad scheme, as a means of 
cutting off trade from this city. Her people owned the controlling interest in the 
Missouri Pacific Railroad, and at once began to use that line, which the people 
of Kansas City had labored so long and so earnestly in securing, into a means of 
oppression. In the summer of 1866 an arrangement was effected, based osten- 
sibly on wash-outs on the road between Kansas City and Lawrence, whereby all 
freights for points west of Lawrence were taken by way of Leavenworth instead 
of being transferred here, and at the same time more favorable rates were given 
Leavenworth than to Kansas City. Passenger fares were but fifty cents more 
between Leavenworth and St. Louis than between Kansas City and St. Louis. 
Kansas City was astonished to find that she had no sooner distanced the rivalry 
of Leavenworth, than she found St. Louis, her old friend, assuming the role the 
latter had been compelled to abandon. This fight has never ceased, but Kansas 
City has steadily gained, and the issue will be manifestly the same as in the case 
with all others. It is but a question of time. 

TRADE AND PROGRESS. 

At the beginning of the year 1867, the city council appointed a committee 
to compile a statement of the trade and progress of the city for 1866. This com- 
mittee soon afterward reported as follows : 

Population 15,064 

Buildings erected, 768, costing $2,166,500 

Total trade, all hnes 33,006,827 

There were at that time in the city fourteen churches, two colleges, two 
academies, twelve primary schools, twenty-one dry goods houses, eighty grocery 
houses, thirteen clothing, eight liquor, fifteen boots and shoes, eight hotels, two 
daily papers and three weeklies, seven miles macadamized streets, and there were 
three railroads in operation, all terminating here — the Missouri Pacific, the Union 
Pacific, Eastern division, and the Missouri River. This latter road connected 
Kansas City and Leavenworth, and has since become a part of the Missouri 
Pacific. 

On the 12th of March the Legislature, in amending the charter, defined the 
wards. The first was all east of Delaware street and north of Ninth, the second 
all east of Main street and south of Ninth, and the third all west of Main and 
Delaware streets. 

THE CAMERON RAILROAD IN 1867. 

On the 1 2th of March, 1864, the name of the Kansas City, Lake Superior 
& Galveston Railroad was changed to Kansas City & Cameron. The begin- 
ning of the year 1867 saw the company still lacking the means to complete the 
line. Col. Kearney and others went to Chicago to market $100,000 of Kansas 
City bonds, when they and Kansas City were violently attacked by the St. Louis 
press. In "February they procured authority from the Missouri Legislature to 
mortgage the road, and succeeded in mortgaging it to the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy companies. This, however, did not release 
the company from the necessity of raising the thirty thousand dollars which the 
people of Jackson county outside of Kansas City had once voted down, so the 
company got the proposition before them again March 19th, and it was again 
defeated. Mr. Joy then came forward with a proposition to take the road off of 
their hands, release the people from the $60,000 they had subscribed, and com- 
plete the road by November 31st, on condition that the city and Clay county 
would release to him the stock it held in the company. The city attempted to 
overcome the difficulty by an appropriation of $60,000, which was made in May, 
but it seemed not to meet the case, and in July it transferred its stock as Mr. Joy 
had proposed. From this time forward the Avork went on rapidly. The corner 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 119 

Stone of the bridge was laid August 21st, and on the 2 2d of November the last rail 
of the road was laid, Col. Kearney, president of the company, and Mr. Gillis, 
the oldest citizen of Kansas City, driving the last spike. This was an occasion 
of great rejoicing. Col. Kearney sent congratulatory messages to the Board of 
Trade, Chicago, and the Chamber of Commerce, St. Louis. The former sent a 
warm response, but the latter did not respond at all. On the 2i5t of February, 
1870, this road was consolidated with the Hannibal & St. Joseph, and soon after- 
ward became the main hne of that road. 

OTHER ROADS. 

In the early part of 1867 Leavenworth attempted to get some legislation 
through the Missouri Legislature that would make the terminus of both the Platte 
county and North Missouri roads at that place, and to get an appropriation of 
half a million dollars through the Kansas Legislature for a bridge there. But 
this was promptly defeated in both places. In March the several roads known as 
the Atchison & Weston and Atchison & St. Joseph and St. Joseph & Savannah 
were consolidated by act of the Missouri Legislature under the name of the 
Platte Country Railroad, and authorized to build a railroad from Kansas City by 
St. Joseph to the Iowa line in the direction of Council Bluffs, and to build a 
branch from St. Joseph by Savannah to the Iowa line in the direction of Des- 
Moines. , 

OTHER INTERESTS. 

The city grew rapidly during 1867, but there was no reliable report of its 
progress published. In February of that year the First National bank was re-or- 
ganized, with Howard M. Holden as cashier, and immediately entered upon 
that career of usefulness and prosperity for which it was so well known, and 
which raised its capital — then $100,000 — to $500,000, Mr. Holden showed 
himself to be a courteous gentleman and a sagacious banker, and gained the 
confidence of all with whom he came in contact usually at the first meeting, and 
he soon became closely identified with the business movements and operations of 
the city. In its subsequent development he exerted a potent influence, as the 
sequel will show. 

In April Messrs. Foster & Wilder became proprietors of the Journal of Com- 
merce, and that same month Mr. Thomas Pratt, of St. Louis, came to the city 
and purchased the franchise and charter of a gas company that had been formed, 
and went immediately to work to build the works. In July the people voted an 
appropriation for lighting the streets, and the works were put into operation in 
October. 

By act of March 12th, 1867 the city limits were again changed, the west 
line being the State line from the river south to 2 2d street, the south line 2 2d 
street from the State line east to Troost avenue, the east line Troost avenue, north 
to 12th street, thence east to Lydia avenue, thence north to Independence ave- 
nue, and thence by the Quarter Section line to the river, which constituted the 
northern boundary. At the same time the city was divided into four wards. 
The first embraced that part of the city east of Main street between the river and 
loth street. The second embraced that part east of Main street and south of 
loth street. The third embraced all south of loth and west of Main street, and 
the fourth all west of Main street and north of loth street. 

THE SCHOOLS. 

The school system of Missouri had been completely destroyed by the war, 
and the rankling passions engendered by that struggle, made the people slow to 
re-organize it, when the Legislature in 1865 adopted laws for that purpose. On 
the 15th and i8th of March 1866 the Legislature had enacted other laws pro- 
viding for the estabUshment of schools in cities, towns rnd villages, with special 



120 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

privileges, but it was uot until the ist of August 1867, that the Kansas City 
Board of Education was organized under the authority of these acts. The 
first Board was composed of W. E. Sheffield, President ; H. C. Kumpf, Secreta- 
ry; J. A. Bachman, Treasurer; E. H. Allen, T. B. Lester and E. H. Spalding; 
J. B. Bradley, Superintendent and Teacher in Central School. 

Immediately after the organization of the Board, Mr. Kumpf retired, and 
Mr. A. A. Bainbridge was chosen to fill the vacancy. There were at this time 
2,150 children of school age, Hving within the Hmits of the school district. 
There was not a public school building in the city. Disorganization reigned 
supreme. The city was utterly destitute of all school accommodations, and 
there was not a dollar available for school expenses. The buildings that could 
be rented for school purposes were old deserted dwellings, unoccupied store 
rooms and damp, gloomy basements in some of the churches. But the Board 
was in earnest, and every effort was made to put the schools in operation. In 
October, 1867, the schools were formally opened in rented rooms, which had 
been hastily and scantily furnished. Into these unattractive abodes the children 
were huddled together to receive instruction. A superintendent and sixteen 
teachers were employed during the year, but as no statistics of the school work 
are found in the records, it is impossible to give a satisfactory account of what 
was done. If the work in the schools was unsatisfactory, the energy of the 
Board was unabated. Preparations for a grand work continued. Sites were 
purchased, bonds issued and school-houses erected. The rapid and marvelous 
growth of the city, while it brought a large influx to the school population, did 
not produce a corresponding increase in the valuation of the taxable property of 
the district. 

The next two or three years were years of great activity with the School 
Board. During 1868 it built the Washington, Humboldt and Franklin Schools; 
in 1869 it added the Central and Lincoln; in 1870 the Lathrop and Benton; 
and in 187 1 the Woodland. These have since been enlarged and others added 
as the increase of school population has required. 

THE LOUISIANA RAILROAD. 

About the middle of January, 1868, information was received in this city, 
that a company had procured a charter for a railroad from Louisiana, Mo. , to 
Kansas City, and in March, 1868, parties arrived in the city to ask the people 
to take an interest in it, and in June the people voted it $250,000 aid Toward 
the close of the year, the company got the Chicago & Alton Railroad, of IIU- 
nois, interested in the project, and the line was speedily constructed from Louis- 
iana to Mexico, where it connected with the North Missouri Railroad. Owing to 
some difficulty about the issue of bonds in some of the counties, the balance of 
the road was not built at that time. The Chicago & Alton built a fine bridge 
across the Mississippi, at Louisiana, and operated through from Kansas City to 
Chicago over the track of the North Missouri until 1878 when it was built through 
to Kansas City. 

KANSAS CITY AND SANTA FE. 

At the session of the Kansas Legislature in 1868, a charter was procured for 
a railroad from Kansas City to Santa Fe, and in March the company was organ- 
ized at Olathe, with Col. J. E. Hays president, and Gen. W. H. Morgan, of 
Kansas City, secretary and treasurer, and books v/ere opened for subscription of 
stock at the First National Bank on the 5th of June. In July the company was 
re-organized. P. P. Elder, president; Gen. W. H. Morgan, secretary, and Col. 
J. E Hays, treasurer. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 121 



THE FT. SCOTT AND GULF. 



When the Cherokee neutral lands were obtained by treaty, and ordered sold 
for the benefit of the Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, James F. Joy became inter- 
ested in the road and bought the land. In the spring of 1868 the American 
Immigrant company of Connecticut set up a claim to the lands, under a previous 
sale made by Secretary Harlan, but the difficulty was soon harmonized by assign- 
ment of their claims to Mr. Joy and the negotiation of a new treaty, which was 
approved by the senate in June, 1868. On the 15th of June, 1868, the city 
council of Kansas City relinquished to Mr. Joy its interest in the road, and on 
the 1 2th of December, that year, it was finished to Olathe ; and to Fort Scott in 
December, 1869. 

THE L., L. & G. R. R. 

This road had been finished to Ottawa by the first of January, 186S. In 
May it received, by treaty with the Osage Indians, 8,000,000 acres of land, upon 
which there was already much settlement. This was the origin of the Osage 
ceded land difficulty, which was not settled until 1876 when the United States 
Supreme Court decided it in favor of the people. 

In November, 1868, the Neosho Valley Railroad Company put one hundred 
and seventy-five miles of their line under contract from Junction City. 

THE NORTH MISSOURI RAILROAD. 

This line of road had been pushed quietly but rapidly through the year 1868, 
and on the ist day of December the last rail was laid at the connection with the 
track of the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad, thus adding to our city a fifth 
road. The Kansas City & Cameron road soon became merged with the Hannibal 
& St. Joseph, and took that name; so that at the close of the year 1868, there 
were completed, the Missouri Pacific, the Hannibal & St. Joseph, and the North 
Missouri (now Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific), from the east ; the Missouri River 
to the west was completed, terminating at Leavenworth ; the Missouri River, 
Fort Scott & Gulf Road was in operation to Olathe, and the Union Pacific East- 
ern Division was operating to Sheridan, four hundred and five miles west of Kansas 
City, and but two hundred and twenty miles from Denver. 

At the close of the year, the population was estimated at 28,000, and there 
had been 2,000 houses built that, year, which shows it to have been one of great 
activity and progress. 

THE PROGRESS OF 1 869. 

In January, 1869, Colonel Coates laid the foundations of Coates Opera House, 
and the City Council chartered the Jackson County and Broadway Horse Rail- 
road Companies. In February a Board of Trade was organized, with T. K. 
Hanna, Esq., as president, D. M. Keen, secretary, and H. M. Holden, treasurer. 
This organization was rendered necessary, by the old Chamber of Commerce 
having ceased to exist ; and during the year it was a most valuable organization. 
In March, the Paola & Fall River Railroad Company was organized. It had a 
spasmodic existence for several years, and graded part of the road between Paola 
and Garnett. This line was built from Paola to Leroy in 1880, as a branch of 
the Missouri Pacific, at which time the Holden and Paola Branch of that 
road was extended from Paola to Ottawa. 

The Missouri Valley Railroad (now Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs) 
was completed February 27, and opened March ist, making Kansas City's seventh 
railroad. 

In March, the Missouri Pacific Railroad took an interest in the Pleasant Hill 
& Lawrence Railroad, and in June it was under contract. In March the city 
council submitted to the people an ordinance to aid the Kansas City & Santa Fe 



122 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Railroad to the extent of $100,000 between Kansas City and Ottawa, but it was 
voted down, because the people understood that Mr. Joy was interested in it, 
and intended to build it anyhow. This was found to be a mistake. In April 
contracts were let for building the Leavenworth & Atchison Railroad, and for the 
Atchison & Nebraska Railroad. On the 3d of that month, Kansas City, Kansas, 
was laid out, and on the 6th, the last stone on the Missouri River bridge was 
laid. Between that time and the 3d of July, the superstructure was put on, and 
the bridge was opened on the 3d with a celebration ; the first bridge on the Mis- 
souri River. In May, the Missouri Pacific Railroad began the agitation of a St. 
Louis and Santa Fe Railroad, to start from Holden, on their line, and run through 
Paola. Toward the latter part of the month, it was taken hold of by Colonel R. 
S. Stevens, and called the Missouri, Kansas & Albuquerque. It has since been 
built from Holden to Ottawa, and is operated as one of the Missouri Pacific cut- 
offs. 

On the 31st of May, the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad was 
completed to Paola. In June Mr. Joy became identified with the Leavenworth, 
Lawrence & Galveston Railroad, and the company was re-organized, after which 
it was pushed forward rapidly. The Missouri Pacific Railroad was originally 
built on what is known as the broad gauge, and on the i8th of July, it was 
changed the entire length of its line to the standard gauge. On the 7th of Au- 
gust the council again submitted to the people a proposition to vote $100,000 to 
the Kansas City & Santa Fe Railroad, of which $25,000 was to be expended in 
building a switch to the southern part of the city, and the balance on the line, 
between Olathe and Ottawa. This proposition was carried, and in October the 
line was surveyed. The foundations of the Nelson House, on the corner of Sec- 
ond and Main streets, were laid in the spring of 1869. Work was stopped on it 
in the fall, and it was sold the next year to the County Court, and was finished up 
in 1870 and 1871 as a County Court House. 

During the year 1869 the growth of the city was rapid, and great improve- 
ment was made on the streets. There was also much discussion of the water 
works question, and a company was formed to build the works. 

KANSAS CITY & MEMPHIS RAILROAD. 

Early in the year there began to be a great deal of discussion relative to the 
building of a railroad to Memphis, and on the 26th of August a large convention 
was held at Springfield for the purpose of setting the enterprise in motion. Only 
a temporary organization was here effected, but afterward, Oct. 19, another meet- 
ing was held at Kansas City, at which all the parties interested, including the 
counties in Missouri through which the road would run, Arkansas, and the city 
of Memphis, were represented. At this meeting an organization was effected, 
under the provisions of the charter of the Kansas City, Galveston & Lake Supe- 
rior Railroad, procured by Col. Van Horn in 1857. It was under the same char- 
ter that the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad was built. The directors elected at 
this meeting were A. H. Humphreys, E. D. Harper, W. P. Cox, W. L. Strong, 
W. B. Nichols, G. W. Jones, J. M. Richardson, S. S. Burdett, W. P. Johnson, 
Col. A. A. Tomlinson, Col. C. E. Kearney, Col. R. T. Van Horn, C. M. Ferree 
and Col. J. D. Williamson. 

In September, 1869, several companies in Missouri and Iowa were consoli- 
dated under the name of the Chicago & Southwestern Railroad Company, the 
object of which was to build a railroad from Davenport, Iowa, to the Missouri 
River. The line has since been built by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Railway Company, and has one branch terminating at Atchison, and another at 
Leavenworth, while it makes connections to Kansas City over the Hannibal & 
St. Joseph from Cameron. 

In November, 1869, the Kansas City College of Physicians and Surgeons 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 123 

was founded and incorporated ; and in December the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe railroad was surveyed from Atchison to Topeka. This same month the Mis- 
souri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad reached Fort Scott, beyond which its 
progress was retarded by a league among the settlers on the Cherokee Neutral 
lands opposed to its progress, and by which the laborers were driven off. The 
Neosho Valley Railroad, now part of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, was finished 
between Junction City and Emporia that month also. 

The Union Pacific, eastern division, by which name the Pacific Railroad from 
Kansas City had been called, had its name changed in March, 1869, to Kansas 
Pacific. Its bond subsidy extended only to Sheridan, and for nearly a year it 
stopped at that place, but in 1869 it effected arrangements for the construction of 
the line to Denver, and grading was resumed in the latter part of 1869. 

AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR. 

The year 1869 was one of the most prosperous in the history of Kansas 
City. Her business was rapidly extended with the extension of her railroad lines, 
and the extent to which building was done, was scarcely less than in 1868. Her 
population had increased to thirty thousand, and she had that year made four 
and a half miles of street. She had seven railroads in operation, three of which 
were yet unfinished, but progressing rapidly. These were the Missouri Pacific,^ 
the North Missouri, the Platte Country,- the Missouri River, completed. The 
Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf, to Fort Scott, the Leavenworth, Lawrence 
& Galveston, nearly to Garnett, and the Kansas Pacific to Sheridan. At this 
time she was so much in the lead that the rivalry between her and other Missouri 
valley cities was rapidly ceasing. , 

CITY ADDITIONS. 

The growth of Kansas City during the period covered by this chapter was 
never before equaled on the American continent, and notwithstanding the many 
"additions" to the city during the prosperous era from 1855 to 1861 many more 
were required to afford the people room. During these years the following 
named additions to the city were made, and the plats filed on the dates here 
given : 

January 12, 1865 — Resurvey of Reeds' Addition. 

June 3, '65 — McElroy's Sub-division. 

October 4, '65 — T. S. Case's Sub-division. 

October 5, '65 — Pacific Place Addition. 

October 17, '65 — Sol. S. Smith's Sub-division. 

December 15, '65 — Cottage Place Addition. 

December 18, '65 — McGee Place Addition. 

February ,19, '66 — Vineyard's Second Addition. 

February 27, '66 — Rice's Addition. 

April 9, '66 — West Kansas Addition, No. 2. 

May 2, '66 — Bailis Place Addition. 

May 21, '66 — Krey's Sub-division. 

May 24, '66 — A. J. Lloyd's Sub-division. 

May 24, '66 — Depot Addition (first plat). 
• May 27, '66 — Depot Addition {second plat). 

May 30, '66 — T. A. Smart's Second Addition. 

August 7, '66 — McLane's Sub-division. 

October i, '66 — Smart's Place Addition. 

December 11, '66 — Long & White's Sub-division. 

January 9, '67 — T. S. Case's Addition. 

April 22, '67 — Guinotte Bluff Addition. 

October, 8, '67 — Gillis' Addition. 



. 124 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

November i8, '67 — Case & Bailis' Sub-division. 

May II, '68— T. A. Smart's Third Addition. 

May 22, '68— E. M. McGee's Sub-division. 

June II, '68 — Extension to West Kansas Addition No. i. 

July 24, '68— B. F. Evans' Addition. 

August 19, '68 — Bidwell's Sub-division. 

October 2, '68 — Wm. Toms' Addition. 

October 30, '68 — Seegar's Addition. 

November 2, '68 — Armfield's Addition. 

November 5, '68 — Broadway Addition. 

December i, '68 — Mulkey's Addition. 

April 21, '69 — Second Resurvey of Reed's Addition. 

May 4, '69 — Hammerslough's Sub division. 

May 21, '68— Hurck's Sub-divison of Guinotte Bluff. 

June 29, '69 — Matthew & Hill's Sub-division. 

July 29, '69 — Thomas Green's Sub-division of lot 116, Hurck's Sub-division. 

September 11, '69 — Lykins' Place Addition. 

September 12, '69 — Branham's Sub-division. 

September 18, '69 — Gallfy's Addition. 

October 5, '6g — Bank Street Block Addition. 

THE BOARD OF TRADE. 

Reference has already been made to the organization of the Board of Trade 
in February, 1869, and to the fact that this organization was rendered necessary 
by the cessation of the Chamber of Commerce, organized in 1857. 

The Chamber of Commerce after its revival after the war, soon revived and 
secured the various railroads and other enterprises which it had inaugurated 
prior to the war. In doing this, many of its leading and most active members 
became connected with the enterprise which it had inaugurted, and were thus 
individually employed to such an extent that they could not attend to the affairs 
of the organization. Beside the objects for which it was instituted were now 
secured and the era of prosperity which it sought to inaugurate was in fullest 
existence. The occasion for it having therefore ceased in 1866-7, the organiza- 
tion itself ceased about the same time. Its success, however, in the securing of 
railroads, and the era of growth and prosperity which it sought, raised a new class 
of interests and questions which needed the concerted action of the people, and 
It was for this purpose that the Board of Trade was organized. 

This organization came into existence on the 6th day of February, 1869, ^t 
which time rules and by-laws were adopted and an election for officers held. At 
this election T. K. Hanna, Esq. , senior member of the jobbing dry goods house 
of Tootle, Hanna & Co., was elected president; M. Diveley, first vice-president, 
and S. S. Mathews, second vice-president ; D. M. Keen, was elected secretary 
and H. M. Holden, treasurer. 

The board had a membership of sixty-seven, among whom were many gen- 
tlemen still prominent among the business men of Kansas City. Among these 
men were such as H. J. Latshaw, M. Diveley, Adam Long, James M. Nave, B. 
A. Feineman, Thos. Green, H. M. Holden, T. B. Bullene, Col. A. A. TomUn- 
son, D. M. Jarboe, T. K. Hanna, Gen. Frank Askew, Matt Foster, E. H. Allen, 
L. Hammerslough, J. B. Wornall, E. W. Patterson, Francis Foster, J. W. Reid, 
C. M. Ferree, T. V. Bryant, Benj. McLean, Joseph Cahn, D. K. Abeel, J. E. 
Marsh, C. E. Kearney, J. A. McDonald, T. M. James, Dr. F. B. Nofsinger and 
T. J. Bigger, though these latter three did not become members until 1870. 

This organization was very active during 1869, and held weekly meetings, at 
which were discussed questions of importance to the city at that time, and com- 
mittees appointed to secure the changes and improvements it decided to be for 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 125 

the common welfare. One of the first questions to come before it, was a propo- 
sition to divide Jackson county, which it vigorously opposed. About the same 
time it took up the subject of uniform drayage charges, and uniforn freight rates 
on the roads already constructed to Kansas City. The first of these objects was 
speedily secured by city ordinance; and the latter, together with all discrimina- 
tions against the city, was before it all the year, but it finally succeeded with all 
the roads in securing satisfactory rates and a discontinuance of all discrimina- 
tions. The movement for paid fire department originated with it and it secured 
such an establishment. It also secured a license law for drummers selling goods 
by sample in the city. It endeavored at one time, without success, to have the 
Kansas Pacific Railroad deliver and receive freight at the Grand avenue depot of 
the Missouri Pacific Railroad on account of the distance to the State Line depot 
and the almost impassable condition of Fifth and Bluff streets. 

Failing in this, it undertook next an extensive system of street improvements, 
including the grading and paving of Second, Fifth, Bluff and Twelfth streets and 
Independence avenue. For this purpose it asked the City Council to submit a 
proposition to the people of the city to vote sixty thousand dollars for these im- 
provements. The subject was then referred to a committee consisting of H. M. 
Holden, A. A. Bainbridge, J. W. Reid, A. C. Dyas and J. B. Wornall, to secure 
the desired action by the Council. They were successful, and the proposition 
was submitted at an election held for that purpose August 8th. 

About the same time the board took up this matter, it also took up the ques- 
tion of voting one hundred thousand dollars aid to the Kansas City & Santa Fe 
Railroad Company to aid in completing its road between Olathe and Ottawa. It 
procured the requisite action from the City Council, submitting such a proposi- 
tion at the same election as that for money to improve the streets. The commit- 
tee through whom this action was secured was composed of M. Diveley, S. S. 
Matthews and D. M. Keen, who acted jointly with a like committee appointed 
by the secretary of the railroad company. 

These two propositions being thus submitted to the people, Messrs. T. K. 
Hanna, J. W. Reid and D. M. Keen were appointed by the board a committee 
to prepare a memorial addressed to the people showing why it should be adopted. 
Messrs. A. L. Harris, Col. Frank Foster and Peter Soden, from the first ward ; 
E. M. McGee, L. Hammerslough and Henry Tobener, from the second ward ; 
Gen. J. W. Reid, A. A. Bainbridge and J. P. Green, from the third ward ; and 
J. R. Bailis, G. W. Branham and James E. Marsh, from the fourth ward, were 
appointed a committee to work for the propositions in their respective wards on 
the day of election, and were authorized to employ bands of music and carriages 
to convey voters to and from the polls. Both propositions were carried by their 
efforts, and thus the street improvements were secured and also the construction 
of this railroad, which was immediately proceeded with, and by means of which 
the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad was secured to Kansas City. 

Later in the year, the Board sent a delegate to Springfield, Mo., in the in- 
terest of the Kansas City & Memphis Railroad, and agitated the question of 
water works for the city, but it undertook no further enterprises of any magni- 
tude during that year. 



126 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

CHAPTER XII. 
THE PROGRESS FROM 1870 TO 1872. 

Improvement and Enlargement of the Railroad Facilities — Inceptioti of the Barge Line — Water 
and Gas Works Built — The Law Library — The Barge Line — The Exposition — The Board of 
Trade, and other Improvet?ients. 

The rapid progress and development of the city at the close of 1869, con- 
tinued several years afterward, and until causes of a national character depressed 
immigration to Kansas, stopped railroad building and produced the condition of 
financial stringency caluminating in the great panic of 1873 and the subsequent 
general depression. 

The years of 187 1 and 1872 were years of great prosperity and growth, 
'^ though before the close of the latter, shadows of the coming depression began to 
be felt. The year 1872 was less active in buildings and improvements, and in 
the year 1873 occurred the great panic; after which, for three years, Kanas 
N City, in common with the whole country, made little progress in visible forms, 
but in the development of and extension of trade, her progress was uninterrupted, 
and at the close of 1876, she was alike the market and a source of supply of the 
New West, embracing Western Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and 
Northern Texas, with Southwestern Iowa and Southern Nebraska, gradually com- 
ing in. 

THREE RAILROADS FINISHED. 

The subjects of chief discussion in 1870, and the ends to which the city was 
lending its efforts and energies, were the Kansas City & Memphis Railroad, and 
the construction of the water works. The Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf, 
the Kansas City & Santa Fe, and the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston 
Railroads were all secured, and in course of rapid construction, hence were not 
objects of solicitude to the city. The Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf was 
completed to Baxter Springs and opened for business in May. The Kansas City 
& Santa Fe was finished between Olathe and Ottawa, and opened for business 
August 2 2d, and from the first was operated as part of the Leavenworth, Law- 
rence and Galveston Railroad. The Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Rail- 
road reached Thayer, Kansas, by the close of the year, and was completed and 
opened to Coffey ville, on the southern line of the State, September 4, 187 1. The 
Kansas Pacific, which was in a very forward state at the beginning of 1870, was 
completed to Denver on the 15th of August, and thus affected a connection with 
the Union Pacific, the Denver Pacific, from Denver to Cheyenne, having been 
already completed. 

RIGHT OF WAY THROUGH THE INDIAN TERRITORY. 

About the same time that Congress granted a charter for the Kansas & 
Neosho Valley Railroad, at the time of which we now write, known as the Mis- 
souri River, Fort Scott & Gulf, it granted a charter also for the Southern Branch 
of the Union Pacific Railroad, which was to run from Fort Riley, Kansas, south- 
wardly to Fort Smith, Arkansas, which would take it through the Indian territory. 
This was secured at the instance of southern representatives and senators. At 
the same time, the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Railroad, at the time 
of which we write known as the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad, 
was in progress from Lawrence southward. This road, as already noticed, was pro- 
jected by Senator James H. Lane, of Kansas, and by him and others interested 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 127 

was designed to run through the Indian Territory, to connect with the Texas 
Central for Galveston. Hence the charter for the Fort Scott road introduced by 
Col. R. T. Van Horn, of this city, and passed in July, was so amended upon its 
passage, at the instance of the southern senators and representatives, and Senator 
Lane, as to provide that if either of these latter roads reached the boundary of 
the Indian Territory before the Fort Scott road reached there, they would have 
the right to the right of way through the Indian Territory, secured by treaty, and 
by this charter granted to the Fort Scott road. The Fort Scott road reached the 
line about a month in advance of the Neosho Valley Railroad, which was con- 
structed on the charter of the Southern Branch of the Pacific, and which afterward 
became known as the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. Nothwithstanding 
this fact the latter road raised a question of right with the Fort Scott road to the 
right of way through the Indian Territory. The ground upon which it contested 
the right of the Fort Scott road was that the charter provided that the State line should 
be crossed in the valley of the Neosho River, and it held that the terminus of 
the Fort Scott road at Baxter Springs was not in that valley. The map of the 
route had been approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and thus its location 
had been approved. Yet the case came up before that officer and the then 
incumbent decided it in favor of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and 
thus shut out the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf, 

THE MEMPHIS RAILROAD IN 1870. 

In February, 1870, Mr. Edward P. Tucke was engaged by the Kansas City, 
Springfield & Memphis Railroad Company to survey the line, and he began the 
work immediately. During the spring months, while this work was in progress, 
the counties along the line voted aid to it, and it was progressing finely. Early 
in the summer, however, there appeared in the field another enterprise, the Clin- 
ton, Kansas City & Memphis Branch of the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company, 
proposing to build a line of road from Kansas City to Memphis, by the way of 
Clinton, in Henry county. Mo., instead of by the way of Springfield. The Tebo 
& Neosho Railroad charter was an old one granted by the Legislature of the State 
of Missouri, and upon which the Kansas Land and Trust Company had already 
built a road from Sedalia, by the way of Fort Scott, to Parsons, Kan. , where it 
united with the Neosho Valley Railroad from Junction City, Kan. This latter 
road, as already stated, was built on a charter granted by Congress for a South- 
ern Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad from Fort Riley to Fort Smith, and by 
the same parties who built the road from Sedalia to Parsons. When these two 
roads were united under one management, the consolidated road took the name 
of Missouri, Kansas & Texas. The Clinton, Kansas City & Memphis Branch of 
the Tebo & Neosho Railroad was a company organized as a branch of this road 
under a general law of the State of Missouri, authorizing railroads to construct 
branches. From the time of its appearance in the field, both companies were 
canvassing along the line for county aid, and some counties voted aid to one, and 
some to the other, and the feeling in the country from Kansas City southward 
was much divided between them. Thus they stood at the end of the year. 

WATER-WORKS. 

The necessity of water-works was much discussed during the early part of 
the year, and finally took shape in a determination on the part of the city to 
build them. For this purpose the council adopted an ordinance providing for 
raising $300,000, and it was submitted to the people and adopted by them on the 
2d of June. It was soon ascertained, however, that there was some informality 
in the election — people being allowed to vote who had not registered, as re- 
quired by law — which made the bonds of doubtful validity, and the scheme was 



128 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

abandoned, but not until after much discussion and too late in the year to inau- 
gurate another enterprise. 

OTHER ENTERPRISES OF 1870. 

The Texas cattle movement through this city to the eastern markets, which 
began in 1868, had assumed such proportions as to render better accommodations 
necessary, and accordingly in the spring of 1870, the railroads running eastwardly 
from here built stock yards for the receiving and transfer of stock. 

In May, the Platte County Railroad from Kansas City to the Iowa line, and 
the Council Bluffs & St. Joseph Railroad from the Iowa line to Council Bluffs, 
were consolidated, having passed into the hands of the Boston interest, with which 
Mr. Joy was connected, and it then took the name of the Kansas City, St. Joseph 
& Council Bluffs, by which it is now known. 

In June a company was organized to build a road from Kansas City to the 
northward, through Plattsburg, but nothing was ever done with it. James Birch, 
of Plattsburg, was president of the company, and Col. E. M. McGee, of Kansas 
City, vice-president. 

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, the construction of which was 
began in 1868, at Atchison, was this year put into operation to Emporia. The 
railroad up the west side of the river to Troy, and the M., K. & T. Railroad 
between Sedalia and Parsons were finished. 

Coates' Opera House was finished in September, and on the 6th of October 
dedicated; Mr. Charles Pope, of St. Louis, being the first manager. 

THE "journal" again. 

On the 9th of March Col. John Wilder, the editor of The Journal of Com- 
merce, which was then being published by John Wilder & Co., was shot and 
instantly killed by James Hutchinson, at the city court house, about a personal 
matter. Col. Wilder was a very popular man and editor, and his loss was 
gready deplored by the people. Hutchinson afterward died before his trial. 
On the 2 1 St of May following. Col. Van Horn, who had now completed his third 
successive term in Congress, purchased the interest of Col. Wilder in The Journal. 
Three days afterward his old ante-war partner, D. K. Abeel, purchased the 
interest held by Smith Baker, Esq. , and the firm of R. T. Van Horn & Co. came 
into existence. 

OTHER NEWSPAPERS. 

The Advertiser, a Democratic daily was established by a gentleman named 
Simpson in 1865, but failed in 1869. The Bulletin, a Republican daily, was 
established by George W. Householder, in March, 1868, and failed in 1873. 
And the Kansas City Times, the present leading Democratic daily, was established 
by a company in the spring of 1868. The News, an evening independent paper, 
was established by a co-operative company of printers in 1870 and failed in 1874. 
And the Mail, an evening Democratic paper, was estabUshed by Col. John C. 
Moore in the spring of 1875, and is still published, 

STREET RAILROADS. 

The Kansas City and Westport Horse Railroad Company which had been 
organized in 1869, with W. K. Bernard, Edward Price, Geo. W. Briant, Nehe- 
miah Holmes, Col. E. M. McGee, J. Q. Watkins and William Dunlap as incor- 
porators, was built in 1870 from the corner of Fourth and Main streets by Fourth, 
Walnut, Twelfth and Grand avenue to Sixteenth street. 

In 1870 the Jackson County Horse Railroad Company was organized with J. 
Q. Watkins, F. R. Long, A. C. Dyas, D. O. Smart, C. E. Waldron as incorpo- 
rators. It was to build a line from Twelfth street and Forest avenue to Indepen- 
dence avenue, thence to Grand avenue, thence to Fifth street, thence to Walnut 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 129" 

Street, thence to Fourth street and thence to Main street, with another line 
extending along Fourth to Wyandotte, thence to Fifth and thence by way of Fifth 
and Bluff streets and Union avenue to Mulbery street, thence to Ninth street, and 
thence to the State line in the direction of Wyandotte. No work was done on 
this line that year. 

CENSUS AND BUSINESS. 

The United States census, taken in 1870, gave the population of Missouri 
Valley cities as follows : 

Kansas City. 32,286- 

Leavenworth 17)873 

Atchison 7) 054 

Lawrence 8,315 

St. Joseph 19,565 

Council Bluffs 10,020 

Omaha 16,083 

Topeka • 5,79° 

The increase for Kansas City from 4,418 in i860, was the largest per cent, of 
increase ever made by any American city, but its real magnitude can only be 
appreciated when it is remembered that these ten years included five of war, during 
which Kansas City's population decreased to about three thousand five hundred, 
so that instead of the increase being from 4,418 to 32,286 in ten years, it was 
actually from about 3,500 to 32,286 in five years. 

At the end of the year Kansas City had eight railroads and seven banks ; 
had built, during the year, 927 houses, at an aggregate cost of $3,454,500, had 
made 60,000,000 brick, and had a jobbing trade as follows : 

Dry Goods $2,511,840 

Groceries 2,614,425 

Liquors 618,108 

Other jobbing lines 3,004.320 

Total $8,748,693 

The whole business of the city, including all lines, was estimated to have 
been $34,794,880. 

THE BOARD OF TRADE IN 1870. 

The Board of Trade was not a very active organization in 1870. The evils 
it was brought into existence to remedy, and the interests it sought to secure, 
having been remedied and secured in 1869, its members yielded to the same im- 
pulses which had caused the decease of the Chamber of Commerce, and devoted 
themselves to their own affairs. At the annual election, Jan. 25th, T. K. Hanna 
was elected President, Gen. Frank Askew, First Vice-President, M. Diveley, Second 
Vice-President and H. M. Holden Treasurer. 

The principal objects it interested itself in during the year were the Memphis 
Railroad, an effort to prevent the removal of the city post-office to the Junction 
of Main, Delaware and Ninth Streets, the collection of business statistics at the 
request of Col. Van Horn, to aid him in securing from Congress, of which he 
was still a member, the establishment of a custom house, an attempt to prevent 
the Missouri Pacific Railroad from discriminating against this city and in favor of 
Leavenworth, to which place its line was now extended by use of the Missouri 
River Railroad between Kansas City and Leavenworth, and a few other matters 
of less importance. 

EVENTS OF 187 1. 

In January, 187 1, another commercial organization, called the Merchant's 
Exchange, was organized, the object of which was to maintain a daily exchange 




BULLENE, MOORES & EMERY's WHOLESALE BUILDING, KANSAS CITY, MO. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 131 

for the sale and purchase of articles of produce, which by this time began to 
seek a market in Kansas City. Of the doings of this organization no record is 
now known to be extant, but from the records of the Board of Trade it is learned 
that an effort was made in January to consolidate the two. Mr. Hanna, President 
of the Board of Trade, and James E. Marsh of the same organization formed 
the consolidation, which Mr. Nave and others held that the objects sought by the 
two were not necessarily identical, and might be better secured by separate organ- 
izations. This view fin illy prevailed, and they were not consolidated. The Mer- 
chants Exchange found itself in advance of the times, and after a few months 
became quiet. The Board of Trade held but a few meetings in 187 1 and under- 
took no enterprise of importance. The officers this year were : T. K. Hanna, 
President; Gen. Frank Askew, First Vice-President; James M. Nave, Second 
Vice-President ; E. L. Martin, Secretary and B. A. Feineman, Treasurer. 

OTHER MOVEMENTS IN 1 87 1. 

In January, 1871, an effort was made to establish a furniture factory, and a 
stock company was organized for that purpose. A building was erected on the 
southern part of Walnut street, and the manufacture of furniture begun. It con- 
tinued but a year or two, however, and failed. 

THE MEMPHIS RAILROAD. 

The conflict between the rival Memphis Railroad Companies continued 
through the early half of the year. In March the County Court of Jackson 
county transferred the county subscription from the Springfield to the Clinton 
road, and there was much agitation and some litigation about the matter. In 
June, however, the conflicting interests were united and harmonized, and the 
road, as projected by them, was to be one line to Harrisonville, and thence two ; 
one by the way of Springfield, and one by way of Clinton. Work was begun on 
the Kansas City end July 15th, and continued until sometime in the winter, when 
the company called upon Jackson county for money, and got into a dispute with 
the authorities about the amount of work done. 

Litigation, growing out of this dispute, stopped all further work until 1873, 
when the matter was adjusted, the company got the Jackson county bonds, and 
expended the proceeds thereof in grading on the road. When this was done, 
the road bed was finished for nearly one hundred miles south from the city; but 
owing to the depression of the money markets, resulting from the great panic 
that year, was not afterward able to negotiate its bonds, to purchase the iron and 
rolling stock. The company was finally forced into bankruptcy, and the road 
sold December i, 1876, for $1,100. 

WATER-WORKS AGAIN. 

The city continued to agitate the construction of water-works, as it still felt 
the need of a better supply of water. In April the City Council adopted an ordi- 
nance authorizing their construction by a company, and soon afterward a company 
of citizens was organized for that purpose. Colonel Coates was President of this 
company, and H.. M. Holden, Esq., Secretary and Treasurer. A contract was let 
to Messrs. Locke & Walruff, to build the works, and it was expected that work 
would soon begin. Indeed, the terms of the ordinance under which the company 
was organized required that it should begin within six months. Nothing was 
done by the contractors, however, until the time had expired, and the charter 
was forfeited. 

There continued much agitation of the matter. In the winter of 1872-3 an 
act was passed by the Missouri Legislature, authorizing the city to contract with 
a company for the purpose of building works, and in pursuance thereof, two dif- 
ferent propositions were voted upon, and defeated by the people in the spring of 



132 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

1873. In November of that year, a contract was entered into with the National 
Water-Works Company of New York, which was approved by the people ; and 
that company, in 1874 and 1875, constructed the works, consisting of two reservoirs, 
two Holly engines, about sixteen miles of street main, and two hundred fire hy- 
drants. By the terms of the contract, the city guaranteed to the company net 
earnings to the amount of $56,000 annually, until that sum should be received 
from rents, after which the guaranty was to cease. In the winter of 1875 the 
company reported its works complete, and demanded that their rents for fire pur- 
poses and the guaranty should begin ; but at this point there arose a dispute be- 
tween the company and the city authorities, which was made use of for election- 
eering purposes that spring and the spring of 1876, and the matter was not 
adjusted for several years. 

COAL. 

In June, 187 1, there arose much discussion about coal, and it was beheved 
that coal could be found at Kansas City, since it had been discovered at Fort 
Scott and so many other adjacent places. A company was formed, and an appro- 
priation made by the city, to be expended in prospecting. The money was ex- 
pended in drilling a well in West Kansas City, but nothmg resulted from it. The 
completion of the Fort Scott road, however, made it less of an object, as it begun 
to bring coal from Fort Scott and along the line, and it has since become a prom- 
inent article of commerce in Kansas City, from which the Missouri "Valley is sup- 
plied. 

THE EXPOSITION. 

About the 4th of August the establishment of an Annual Industrial Exposi- 
tion began to be agitated. The first mention of this subject was made by the 
Bulletin newspaper, in an editorial article written by Capt. D. H. Porter, then 
its editor. The other newspapers immediately took it up and urged the sugges- 
tion, and soon brought about a pubhc sentiment in its favor which resulted in the 
organization of a company for an experimental exposition to be held that fall. 
Edward Fleischer, Esq., was engaged to superintend it and the work begun. 
Much interest was taken in it by the people and everything done that was deemed 
necessary. The buildings were erected, the arrangements completed, and the 
grounds opened October i6th. It continued six days and was a complete suc- 
cess, fully thirty thousand people having attended on one day — Thursday. 

Immediately afterward a permanent association was organized, fair grounds 
in the southeastern part of the city were secured, and it became a permanent 
institution with annually increasing interest. 

Col. Coates, who was elected President of the Association by which the 
experimental exposition was held, become President of the permanent organiza- 
tion, which position he has continued to fill. D. L. Hall, Esq., the first Secre- 
tary, continued in that position until 1880, when he resigned and was succeeded 
by J. Y. Leveridge, Esq. 

THE LAW LIBRARY. 

For several years there had been felt a great need of a law library. The 
rapid growth of the city had attracted hither a great many attorneys, many of 
whom were young men who had not yet accumulated libraries of their own. 
There had been enough agitation of the subject to attract attention abroad, so 
that about the ist of September, Messrs. Banks & Bros., law-booksellers, of New 
York, informed some of the attorneys that they had recently been intrusted with 
the sale of the library of the Hon. A. C. Baldwin, of Michigan, which con- 
tained complete sets of reports of all the States and Territories in the Union down 
to 1870. 

A meeting of the attorneys was immediately called, an association organized, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 133 

and the shares fixed at $250 each. Fifty-four shares were immediately sub- 
scribed, some business men taking part to help the attorneys. The money was 
thus raised and the Ubrary purchased, the books being received here Octo- 
ber 30th. 

Since that time the association has added subsequent reports, and a set of 
English reports, making the Kansas City library, with perhaps one or two excep- 
tions, the most complete in the United States. 

The first officers of this association were John C. Gage, President ; Wallace 
Pratt, Vice-President; John K. Cravens, Secretary; Henry N. Ess, Treasurer; 
and Col. A. A. Tomlinson, Judge Nelson Cobbs, Judge Warwick Hough, Judge 
F. M. Black, J. W. Jenkins, J. C. Gage, E. W. Kimball, Wallace Pratt and L. 
C. Slavens, Board of Directors. 

THE CHICAGO FIRE. 

About this time, that is about the loth of October, occurred the great fire in 
Chicago, which so nearly destroyed that city, and turned out its hundreds of 
thousands of prosperous people without homes or means of subsistence. The 
mayor of that city made an appeal to the generosity of the public for aid to pre- 
vent the suffering and starvation that must otherwise follow so appaling a disaster. 
Among the cities of the United States, Kansas City was not least prompt in 
responding to this appeal. Mayor Warner immediately convened the council, 
and an appropriation of ten thousand dollars was made and immediately for- 
warded. About the same time a public meeting of the people was called, and a 
relief association organized, of which General W. H. Powell was president. This 
association held a succession of meetings, and appointed soliciting committees 
for each ward. It also established a storehouse for the reception of donations of 
food, money and clothing, and in the course of a few days had collected together 
several thousand dollars worth of money, food, clothing, etc., and promptly for- 
warded it to the sufferers. 

THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

The ist of September the Chicago & Southwestern Railway was completed 
to Beverly, on the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad. It im- 
mediately became the property of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, 
and until about the ist of January, 1880, made its connections with Kansas City 
over the line of the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs road. At the time 
above mentioned, however, it made a contract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
Railroad by which it secured the right to use the tracks of that road from Cam- 
eron to Kansas City, since which it has run its trains through to Kansas City by 
that route. 

THE EVENTS OF 1 87 2. 

In Jaxiuary, 1872, the name of the North Missouri Railroad was changed to 
St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern. 

In January, 1872, the Board of Trade and Merchants Exchange having 
both become non-active, there was a movement among the business men for the 
formation of another commercial organization. This finally took shape January 
1 6th, in a call for a meeting of the members of both the existing organizations at the 
court-house. After some preliminary discussion, it was determined to unite the 
two bodies, elect new officers and start anew. M. English, Esq., was chosen 
President pro tern.. General W. H. Powell, Vice-President, and I.N. Hicks, Secre- 
tary. Nineteen names were enrolled for the new organization. 

The next day, a second meeting was held, at which rules were adopted and 
an election of officers held. Gen. Powell was elected President, Dr. F. B. 
Nofsinger, First Vice-President; J. A. Dewar, Second Vice-President; A. S. Haines, 



134 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Secretary, and Junius Chaffee, Treasurer. Mr. Haines finding it inconsistent 
with business interests to fill the position of secretary, soon afterward resign- 
ed, and D. Royce Drake was chosen in his place. At the annual election, 
January, 1873, Hon. H. J. Latshaw was elected President, A. D. Simons, Secre- 
tary, and Junius Chaffee, Treasurer. In June following, Mr. Simons resigned 
the office of secretary, and W. H. Miller was chosen in his stead, and by suc- 
cessive annual elections has continued to fill the office. At the next annual 
election, in 1874, Dr. F. B. Nofsinger was chosen President, and continued to 
act as such, by annual election, until 1878. At the annual election, 1875, Mr. 
Diveley was chosen Treasurer, in the place of Mr. Chaffee, and served one year. 
He, with Messrs. Nofsinger and Miller, were re-elected to their respective positions 
again in 1876, but soon afterward, May 9th, he went out of •office on a re-organi- 
zation of the board, Howard M. Holden being chosen to fill the place. The 
Board continued under this organization until May, 1876, and until that time it 
was only a voluntary association, the memberships continued for one year only, 
and were secured by paying such annual sum as was decided upon by the mem- 
bers attending the annual meetings. 

THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA FE RAILROAD. 

When the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad had been extended far 
into the Arkansas Valley and begun to share largely in the transportation of Tex- 
as cattle, it found that a large proportion of its business, about two thirds, originat- 
ed at Kansas City, or was destined for that place. Hence it became desirous of 
securing a line of its own to the city. Accordingly some gentlemen in Topeka, 
in the spring of 1872, organized the Topeka and Lawrence Railroad Company, to 
build a line to Lawrence, and at the same time a company called the Kansas City, 
Lawrence and Topeka, was organized in Kansas City to build the* line between 
Kansas City and Lawrence, Maj. L. K. Thacher, Col. R. H. Hunt, E. L. Mar- 
tin, J. R. Bailis, and F. R. Long constituted this company. On the 12th of No- 
vember the city voted $100,000 to aid the company. No progress was made by 
this company that year. 

THE KANSAS CITY AND EASTERN RAILROAD. 

This important local Hne of railroad was inaugurated in the summer of 1872, 
under the name of the Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northeastern, and it was at 
first designed to run from Kansas City through Wyandotte and in a northwesterly 
direction to the Kansas and Nebraska State line. The company, however, failed 
to secure the requisite aid, and it was turned the other way, down the Missouri 
River. August 21, 1872, Kaw township, in which Kansas City is situated, voted 
it $150,000 aid for the line to the northwest. It was soon found, however, that 
the requisite aid could not be obtained along the line in Kansas, -and its course 
was changed as above stated, when, Oct. 15, 1872, Blue township, in Jackson 
county, voted bonds to it. The following March, 1873, the question of transfer- 
ring the Kaw township bonds to the line westward from the city was submitted 
to the people, and authority for the transfer given. The contract was let on the 
first section, between Kansas City and Independence, in October, 1873, and 
work begun in December. That part of the line was finished in 1874, and in 
1875 the balance of the line at Lexington was put under contract and completed 
in the spring of 1876. This road is the only narrow gauge road in Kansas City, 
and is very important as a local road and because of its reaching the great coal 
mines at Lexington. 

BARGES ON THE MISSOURI RIVER. 

The idea of navigating the Missouri River with barges was first proposed on 
the 23d of April, 1872, in an editorial article in the Journal, which was written 
by the then commercial editor. In his study of the commercial situation of Kari- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 135 

sas City, and of the means that might be adopted for its improvement, he hit upon 
this idea, and in the editorial article referred to, stated the situation and the ends 
to be attained by bargt^s. The origin of the idea cannot be better shown than by 
copying the article entire. It was as follows : 

''The business men of this community realize that the great need of Kansas 
City at the present time is a line of barges on the Missouri river. Quick transit 
by rail, and the uncertainty and difficulty of navigating the river during the latter 
part of the summer has rendered steamboating unprofitable, and nearly abolished 
it. We are compelled to receive and ship our freights by the various railroads, 
and although we are favorably situated in this regard, we cannot offer the induce- 
ments needed for the shipment of the products of the country around us to this 
market, nor to the merchants of neighboring towns to supply themselves here 
with what they want for their customers. Our advantages in freights east are not 
sufficient to render it entirely impossible to load grain on the cars in Kansas, 
Nebraska, Western Missouri and Western Iowa for the markets to which our 
grain is shipped ; hence the smaller places in the district named, having access 
to our railroads, become collecting centers for the grain around them and ship it 
direct to eastern markets. The larger merchants in such places find themselves 
able to buy their stocks in eastern places and ship them direct to their establish- 
ment. 

" A barge line will remove these conditions. By giving cheap freights for 
grain to St. Louis, it will compel the shipment of all the grain raised in the dis- 
trict named, to this city, to obtain the benefit of such freights. It will, also, 
reduce the cost of freights from the east here to such an extent as to bring down 
the prices of all kinds of manufactured articles, groceries, etc., in this market, 
and while our dealers will be able to realize their present profits they will also 
be able to sell goods at such figures as to successfully compete with all the world 
for the trade of this country. Thus it will be seen that scarcely any other enter- 
prise could secure such benefits to our city. 

" The establishment of a barge line will at once create the business necessary 
to make it profitable. There is no question about the feasibility of barge naviga- 
tion of the Missouri, for in Europe many streams are thus navigated which are 
worse than the Missouri. The moment that it is known that a barge line will be 
established to this city, to begin on a certain date, there will be a movement 
of the products of the country to this city, attracted by its cheap freights, that will 
load every barge down the river. After harvest, the grain crop of Kansas, 
Nebraska, western Missouri and western Iowa will all come down here for the 
same reason, and during the fall will furnish a barge line all the business it can do. 

" Return freights will be ample to load all up river barges. As it is, the 
quantity of goods that would be shipped to this city, of the class that a barge line 
would certainly handle, is such that it would afford a fair business. The reduc- 
tion in freights would so reduce the prices of such goods in this market as to 
cause an immense increase of the trade, and thus naturally augment the amount 
of business that a barge line would have to do. In view of these facts there 
can be no doubt of the profit of the enterprise. 

"It is stated that Capt. Eads has partly promised to put in such a line of 
barges soon, but it is too important an interest to take any chances. Our Board 
of Trade can do nothing more important at this juncture than to collect the ma- 
terial to show to Capt. Eads and others that it will certainly pay, and thus secure, 
beyond all question, its immediate establishment. 

" In this enterprise, St. Louis has an interest as well as Kansas City, for 
while it gives us all the advantages of being a receiving and distributing depot, it 
will secure to St. Louis the passing of all our receipts through that city, and make 
it the market which our products will reach first on their way to the consumer. 
If St. Louis cannot derive a great benefit from these facts, she does not possess 



136 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

the enterprise for which she receives credit. Further than this, it will cause the 
shipment to this place and to St. Louis, via this barge line, the products of a vast 
area of territory in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas, which now finds their market in 
Chicago. In return, it will enable St. Louis and this city to supply the same area 
with merchandise, whereas it is now supplied by Chicago." 

This article excited a deep interest among the mrechants, and it was followed 
by several others that brought to view more in detail the benefits it was proposed 
thus to secure. The subject was taken up by the Board of Trade and referred to 
a standing committee on Internal Improvements, consisting of Col. James E. 
Marsh, Junius Chaffee, J. A. Dewar, Gen. W. H. Powell and E. R. Thelkeld. On 
the 29th of April this committee addressed a letter to Capt. Eads, of St. Louis, and 
one to Col. Octave Chanute, then superintendent of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & 
Galveston Railroad, with headquarters at Lawrence. On the 9th of May they 
reported a telegram from Capt. Eads, saying that he "was so constantly occupied 
that he could not promise a report, but would write a letter strongly urging the 
plan as soon as he had leisure." They reported also the following from Col. 
Chanute : 

Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad, 
Superintendent's Office, 
Lawrence, Kansas, May 6, 1872. 
J. E. Marsh, J. Chaffee, J. A. Dewar, W. H. Powell, E. R. Threlkeld, 

Committee of Board of Trade, Kansas City, Mo.: 

Gentlemen — I find here upon my return after a short absence, your favor 
of the 29th ult. , asking my opinion as to the feasibility and practicability of es- 
tablishing a barge line on the Missouri River to St. Louis and New Orleans, with 
a view to handling grain, etc. 

And first, let me say, that I concur most heartily and earnestly with the wis- 
dom and opportuneness of the proposal. In my judgment, the country to the 
west, north and south of your city will be worth very little, unless some means be 
taken to cheapen the transportation of its products, to the existing markets, or new 
markets opened sufficient to absorb all its surplus ; and the railroads which drain 
this territory are largely interested in bringing about such a consummation. 

The business of the cities which border the great bend of the Missouri, has 
hitherto been confined to the distributing of manufactured goods and supplies, to 
the fast settling up country beyond them. These have been paid for with 
the money that the emigrants had brought with them, or that which had been dis- 
bursed by foreign capital that has been building our railroads. These supplies are 
nearly exhausted, and there must hereafter be exports of surplus products in ex- 
change for the consumption of goods ; industry must be directed into the most 
profitable channels, and a great change take place in the character of the leading 
business. 

I confess I have not yet been able to see how the farmers of Kansas and Ne- 
braska, would be able to compete successfully with those of Illinois and Missouri, 
in marketing to the eastward their bulkier products, such as corn, with the pres- 
ent methods and cost of transportation. They can, to be sure, concentrate their 
corn into cattle, or hogs or highwines, or starch, and so export them, but the 
profit will be less, and the return less immediate. 

On the other hand, the railroads to the west and south of you are interested 
in taking the corn to market in its original shape, in order to secure as much 
tonnage as possible. For instance assuming a crop of forty bushels to the acre, 
it requires but seven and one half acres of the tributary territory to load one 
railroad car, while with the usual allowance of two acres per head per annum, a 
car carries ofi" the products of forty acres in the shape of twenty head of cattle ; 
or allowing thirty bushels of corn required per head of hogs for fattening, and 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



137 



one-fourth of an acre per head for range, a car will carry off the product of fifty- 
acres in the shape of so many hogs. 

Our experience in this country has thoroughly proved, that while railroads 
are admirably adapted to the gathering of the products of the land, over com- 
paratively short distances, and the quick transportation of the more valuable and 
perishable commodities, over long distances, they connot compete successfully 
with well organized water transportation, for the bulkier products in proportion 
to value, where time is not so essential. Even under the most favorable circum- 
stances the cost of rail transportation is from two to six times as much as the cost 
of carrying by water. 

Some years ago a Mr. J. McAlpine, then engineer for the State of New 
York, investigated the subject with much care, and arrived at the following re- 
sults, as to the cost of various modes of transportation. 

Ocean — long voyage, 1.50 mills per ton per mile. 

Ocean — short voyage, 2 to 6 mills per ton per mile. 

Lakes — long voyage, 2 mills per ton per mile. 

Lakes — short voyage, 3 to 4 mills per ton per mile. 

Rivers — Hudson and similar character, 2.5 mills per ton per mile. 

Rivers — tributaries of Mississippi, 5 to 10 mills per ton per mile. 

Erie Canal enlarged, 4 mills per ton per mile. 

Railroads — favorable line and grades, 12.5 mills per ton per mile. 

Railroads — steep grades, 15 to 20 mills per ton per mile. 

It must be clearly understood and remembered that the above is the prime 
cost of the transportation, and that only with sufficient business to keep the lines 
thoroughly employed. The charges will vary with the rate of profit exacted, the 
risk attending the carrying, and the volume of business done. 

At a convention held in Chicago in 1863, to promote the improvement of 
the existing methods of transporting the products of the west to the seaboard, 
which even then were felt to be inadequate, and to improve the navigation of the 
Illinois River, the following table was given of the cost and existing charges of 
forwarding the leading articles, from the mouth of the Missouri River : 



STATEMENT SHOWING THE RATES OF TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI 
RIVER AND NEW YORK IN 1862; ALSO THE COST WITH A COMMODIOUS WATER 
TRANSPORTATION. 





TO CHICAGO 


TO BUFFALO BY 




TO ALBANY 














ILL. RIVER IMPROVm't. 


LAKE. , 


ERIE CANAL ENl'g'd 


HUDSON RIVER. 


TOTAL. 


























FROM 
























ALTON, 
ILLINOIS. 


■ o 


g 

3 




O 

■ -c 


O 
«E 

■ o 


g 

3 

n 
o 


c o 


O 

2.0. 
n 


() 

v o 


u 

3 
ft 


c o 
• n 


O 

n 


^1 

-1 


d 

3 


3' 
~ ft 


o 

S-'S 


n 

o 


o 

3- 

n 
p. 


m 
.ftp 

PC peg. 








Cts. 




= 






"* 


3 








3 












*i 




Mills. 


Miles. 


C. 


M. 


M. 


n 


C. 


M. 


M. 


c. 


C. 


M. 


M. 


C. 


ct 


c. 


c. 


C. 1 


Corn. . . 


3% 


320 


3 


141 


2 


950 


5 3 


9.6 


4 


350)^ 


3.9 




2>^ 


151 


1.0 


13.3 


13.2 


36.8 


23 6 


Wheat . . . 


3% 


320 


3.2 


15 


2 


950 


5.7 


10.6 


4 


350 >i 


4.2 




2H 


151 


1.0 


15.4 


14.2 


41.0 


26 8 


Flour, brls 


s% 


320 


11.2 


35 


2 


950 


19,0 


43.0 


4 


350 X 


14. 




2X 


151 


3.7 


70. 


47.9 


148.0 


100 


By Rail*. 


Cts. 


Dis. 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Dis. 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Dis. 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Dis, 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Cts. 


Cts. 2 


Corn. . . 


13^ 


256 


8.9 


14 


1}^ 


513 


17.9 


27.5 


i;^ 


380 


13.3 


20 


IX 


144 


5 


7 


47.6 


69.4 


56 2 


Wheat . . 


m 


256 


9.6 


15 


IX 


513 


19.2 


29.5 


IX 


380 


1.42 


21.4 


IK 


144 


5.4 


8.5 


48.4 


74.4. 


60 2 


Flour . . 


l)i 


256 


32 


50 


l)i 


513 


64.1 


QHVi 


i}i 


380 


47.5 7VA 


IK 


144 


18 


27.0 


101.6 


246.6 


198 7 



*For six months, during the suspension of navigation, the cost is given by rail ; but in the last column, from 
the amount charged is deducted the cost by water. tAmounts charged between Buifalo, N. Y., included in 
same column. |Existing rates by rail. 



138 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



These calculations are based upon the assumption of a reasonable immunity 
from accidents, and the adoption of such a system as may be best fitted to the 
character of the stream it is proposed to navigate. If they are correct, the follow- 
ing would be the cost and charges upon a few of the leading articles, from and to 
St. Louis : 



ESTIMATED COST AND CHARGES BARGE TRANSPORTATION OF MISSOURI. 



DOWN STREAM. 



ARTICLES. 



Corn per bushel . 
Wheat per bushel 
Flour per barrel . 
Beef per barrel . . 
Hay per ron . . . 



d 


?0 


n 




> 


> 




p 





W 


en 


w 






C/2 






w 


p 


n 




e- i-H 


C 




3 

r> 


S 





3 


ro 


ns 




|— ; 


D 


>-i-l C 


G. 


Cu 








P i-t 






^ 




C/3 


3 P 


•-1 


Q 


0- 


• 




— 
5 ^ 




35 


p 








(K 




tn 


392 


2-5 


.02^ 


Va 


•02>^ 


$ .06 


392 


2-5 


•03 


.01 


•03 


.07 


392 


2-5 


.10 


.04 


.08 


.22 


392 


2-5 


.16 


•05 


.19 


•33 


392 


2-5 


.98 


. 12 


.90 


2.00 



•-d 



UP STREAM. 



Lumber M. F. B. M . . . 
Iron and Nails per 1000 lbs. 

Glass per 1000 ths 

Salt per barrel 

Anthracite per ton .... 



392 


5-0 


$2.44 .35 


$1 


.20 


$4.00 


392 


5-0 


.TO 03 




.07 


.20 


392 


5-0 


.10 


.06 




.08 


.24 


392 


5-0 


.29 


•05 




. 12 


.46 


392 


5-0 


1.96 


.10 




.04 


3. CO 



But, it will be said, no such rates of profits and charges now prevail on the 
river, and the railroads have nearly driven off the steamboats. True, but this 
may perhaps be the fault, not of the river, but of the character of the boats now 
upon it, which, originally designed for a mixed passenger and freight traffic, have 
not yet had time to adapt themselves to an exclusively freight transportation, and 
to the altered condition of affairs, as to the class of goods to be carried. Their 
hulls are built for fast running, instead of capacity for carrying, their machinery 
uses fuel and steam in the most expensive way, and they carry large crews, who 
cost and waste enormously, and await in idleness the emergencies of the local 
traffic. A barge line properly designed must effect large savings under all three 
of the above heads. 

I believe that if they understand their permanent interests aright, the exist- 
ing railroads will favor the proposition to re-organize the river transportation, so 
as to reduce its cost to a minimum. They may thereby lose a little tonnage for a 
time, but their permanent interests are that the trans-Missouri country shall be set- 
tled and profitably farmed, and that the industry of the people shall be organized 
and directed in the best manner. No permanent prosperity for the railroads can 
be estabhshed at the expense of the country, its wealth and well-being must pre- 
cede and form the basis for the success of its transportation lines. Already there 
is a preposterous amount of carrying back and to, and the road with which I am 
connected alone, has shipped to St. Louis, during the past season, many car loads 
of wheat, which it is now bringing back in the shape of flour at the rate of two 
or three cars a week. 

It is a significant fact that no railroad in Illinois has as yet paid permanent 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 139 

dividends, save those which terminate upon the great lakes. I might almost say 
that none but those which terminate in Chicago have achieved great success. I 
can think of no explanation for this fact, save that these alone have been enabled 
to avail of the cheap water transportation of the lakes, and carry forward the 
bulkier products of the soil to be emptied into the vessels. 

In answer to the questions which you more particularly ask, I would say : 

ist. " Can a barge line be successfully operated on the Missouri River from 
this city to St. Louis ?" 

I think decidedly yes, although I believe such is not the opinion of many 
men who have spent their lives in navigating the river. Much, very much, it 
seems to me, depends upon how the experiment is inaugurated, and the class of 
boats and barges which are first put on. A first failure often does more to retard 
or defeat a worthy project than any intrinsic difficulties in the undertaking. 

2d. " What should be the character and cost of the vessels?" 

As I have had no practical experience of the navigation of the Missouri 
River, my ideas on this point are necessarily somewhat theoretical and crude. I 
give them to you for what they are worth, but I would urge that before being 
adopted, and indeed before any of your plans are carried into execution, the 
whole should be submitted to the better judgment of old river captains and pilots, 
and such other experienced persons as are not prejudiced against the experiment. 

The steamboat should, I think, have great surplus power, for use in time of 
flood against the stream. It should have no passenger accomodation, except for 
the smallest crew with which it would be safe to handle it. It should be low 
above the water, and expose as little surface as possible to the wind. The wheels 
I would put well aft, and I am by no means sure that a screw propeller would not 
be much the best, as giving a more useful application of the power, and avoiding 
all trouble from drift-wood. It ought to be supplied with powerful movable spar 
machinery, which could be transported at once to any barge which might get 
aground, and power transmitted to it through adjustable shelves and blocks pref- 
erably with wire ropes. The boat might also be provided with anchor beams, to 
hold it at once, should one of the barges get aground, or strike a snag, and the 
lashings between them should be so arranged that no harm would result to the 
remainder of the tow, in going down stream, when the force of the current would 
tend to cause it to swing around upon the damaged barge as a pivot. 

I am not clear whether high or low pressure of steam would be preferable. 
I think the former, working steam at 120 to 160 pounds to the inch pressure, 
and arranged with a variable cut- off and expansion gear. I believe there would 
be an advantage in a high piston speed, and this could best be applied to a screw 
propeller. The steam chest and cylinders should be thoroughly jacketed and 
protected. I would burn coal exclusively ; and to save time, have chutes pro- 
vided at convenient points on the river, from which the coal, stored upon a slope, 
could run down by gravity upon the boat, on the removal of a tail board. 

Such a boat as I have described, with capacity for towing six barges, carry- 
ing two hundred and fifty tons each, would probably cost about $20,000 on a 
wooden hull, and about $25,000 on an iron hull. The latter would probably be 
the best in the long run, but as mistakes might be made, requiring some changes 
in the construction, I believe I would begin with wood. 

The barges should, I think, be of iron, divided into compartments by water- 
tight bulkheads, and stiffened with internal bracing and ribs of wood. The latter 
I believe important to prevent distortions in case of strain or accident. The ad- 
vantages of the iron may be briefly stated to be : 

First, Comparative immunity from destruction and sinking by running over 
snags, etc. 

Second, The damaging the cargo in none but the injured compartment. 

Third, Facility for repairs. ♦ 



140 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Fourth, Greater durability ; the Hfe of the barge being probably increased 
to thirty years, instead of six or seven, as now. 

Fifth, Exemption from water-soaking, and decreasing carrying capacity. 

Sixth, Greater value of the old materials when worn out. 

These advantages would in my judgment more than counterbalance the in- 
creased cost of iron over wood and greater interest charge. So great do I con- 
sider them to be, that I would recommend that at first the company should be 
their own insurers, until their experience should settle what would be a reasonable 
rate of premium. 

In order to divide up the load and permit the doubling up around any swift 
bend of the river, in times of flood, I beUeve a smaller class of barges than those 
in use on the Mississippi should be adopted. I am inclined to recommend that 
they be about loo feet long and 24 to 26 feet beam, drawing not more than eigh- 
teen inches light, and carrying 250 tons on a draught of six feet, which would 
give about 130 tons on a draught of four feet They should be "model barges" 
and not flat-bottom scows, in order to offer the least resistance in towing up 
stream, and in my estimate of cost, I have assumed them be built of one-fourth 
inch boiler plate. The decks and inner furring might be of wood and they must 
be arranged by all means so as to carry deck loads, protected by tarpaulins, in 
case of need : They must be arranged so as to carry grain in bulk, and to be 
easily loaded and unloaded by machinery. Success will depend greatly upon 
doing away with hand labor. 

I estimate the cost to be about $5,000 per barge, and would advise the begin- 
ning with six, with ample facilities for loading or unloading at either end, so as 
to detain the steamboat as little as possible. 

The best manner of making up the tows would have to be ascertained by 
experience. Whether the barges should be abreast, or somewhat forward, or 
back of the tow boat, or a number of them grouped to occupy all these positions, 
I cannot tell. I would begin with two, then try four, and finally experiment with 
six, but, as already hinted, the lashings should be carefully considered, and so 
arranged that while they can be released instantly, they will be sure to do their 
duty when required for hard service. 

The best mode of working the line would also have to be tested by experi- 
ence. The experiment clearly will be made upon through freights, and in the in- 
terest perhaps of a single city, but if it succeeds each town bordering the river 
will have its own barge, which will be leisurely loaded during the week, to be 
upon a specified day taken in tow by the steamboat, which is to take it to market, 
there to be unloaded and reloaded by machinery and sent back with such com- 
modities as the tributary country requires. 

Partly with this in mind, and in order to meet the unforeseen contingencies 
sure to arise, the working capital should be made ample, and a good surplus pro- 
vided. The estimate is as follows : 

I steam tow-boat, wooden hull $20,000 

6 iron barges at $5,000. . 30,000 

Landings and machinery at termini 5, 000 

Contingencies 10,000 

• Working capital 25,000 

Total . $90,000 

If we assume your city as an initial point, we find that it is but 100 miles 
further by water from New Orleans than Chicago is from New York, while you 
are nearer New Orleans than Alton is from New York. I take the following fig- 
ures from Humphreys & Abbott's report on the Mississippi River : 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



141 



Mouth of Kaw to St. Louis by river 392 miles 

St. Louis to New Orleans by river 1149 " 



Total 1541 miles 

And by the above table : 

Chicago to Buffalo by lake 950 miles 

Buffalo to Albany by canal 35°/^ " 

Albany to New York by river 151 " 



Total 1451^ miles 

Difference ^9/4 miles 

There remains, however, in addition against you, the great disadvantage of 
the effect of tropical climates upon certain cereals in transit, and these may re- 
quired to be kiln-dried, to fit them for exportation. The southern local consump- 
tion, however, can perfectly well be supplied. 

I regret that I have no data at hand, later than those for 1853, of the cost of 
ocean transportation from various ports ; they were then as follows : 

TABLE OF OCEAN CHARGES 

FOR THREE YEARS PRECEDING 1 853, FROM VARIOUS AMERICAN PORTS 





To Liverpool. 


To Havre. 


To Havana. 


To Rio Janeiro. 


FROM. 


„ 1 Per Ton. 




Per Ton. 


g 

c 


Per Ton. 


2 


Per Ton. 




? Voy- 1 Per 
age. 1 mile. 


Voy- 
age. 


Per 
mile. 


Voy- 
age. 


Per 
mile. 


Voy- 
age. 


Per 

mile. 




2910 $11 00 
3020 ^ 2.5 
3150 5 00 
329.'i ,5 50 
3530 5 75 
3395 6 00 
4755 7 50 


mills 
3.75 
1.74 
1.60 
1.70 
1.60 
1.70 
1.60 


313C 

3000 
3318 
3385 
3620 

3485 
4845 




mills 


1960 
1480 
1250 
1220 
1215 
1170 
595 




mills 


6010 
5310 
5240 
5000 
5000 
50U0 
6555 


$4 60 

4 on 

5 00 

6 00 

6 00 

7 00 


mills 


Boston 

New York 

Philadelphia 


$5 00 

4 50 

5 00 

6 00 

6 00 

7 5u 


1.67 
1.35 
1.47 
1.65 
1.72 
1.54 


$4 00 

3 00 

4 00 

5 00 
5 50 
4 00 


2.70 
2.40 
3.27 
4.11 
4.70 
6.72 


0.75 
0.76 
1.00 




1 20 


Richmond 


1 20 
l.Oli 



















Note, — The rates of freight to Rio Janeiro are proportionately low, because 
the return freights are generally good. 

As there is now a barge line in successful operation between St. Louis and 
New Orleans, I suppose it will be your purpose to connect with that, rather than 
to attempt for the present to extend as far as New Orleans, the rather as the suc- 
cessful navigation of tlie Missouri River, will probably require a somewhat dif- 
ferent class of boats and barges than that of the Mississippi. 

It will be noticed that in the table given by Mr. McAlpine, the cost of trans- 
portation on the Mississippi River, is stated to be three mills per ton per mile, 
and on its tributaries at five to ten mills per ton per mile. This I understand to 
be the prime cost, and it is undoubtedly high on account of the wasteful methods 
hitherto practiced on those rivers, and the considerable extra expense entailed by 
the accommodation of the passenger traffic on the same boats. 

Without having investigated the subject as thoroughly as I could wish, and 
made as many calculations as I would have done had I fuller data at hand, I am 
inclined to estimate the prime cost of barge transportation on the Missouri River 
at one quarter {)^) of a cent per ton per mile down stream, and about double, or 
one-half {j4) a cent per ton a mile up stream. 

It is very likely that even this would require to be enlarged in a short time, 
to insure the success of the undertaking. If it succeeds, as I believe it can, it 
will yield handsome returns upon many times the above investment. 

Pardon me, gentlemen, for inflicting so long, and I greatly fear, so tiresome 
a letter upon you. It has been written hurriedly, using such materials as chanced 



142 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

to be most convenient at hand, and has grown to its present great length in con- 
sequence of the great interest I take in any proposal to reduce the cost of taking 
to market the produce of our Kansas farmers, and the conviction that I entertain, 
that under the circumstances existing at present, they will find it difficult to make 
their operations profitable. I am, very respectfully, 

O. Chanute 

Capt. Eads soon afterward wrote the promised letter, in which he took strong 
ground in favor of the feasibility of barge navigation on the Missouri, but urged 
that some improvement of the river would be necessary to insure its success. 

Thus supported by the opinions of eminent engineers, the Journal continued 
its agitations of the enterpise, yet singular as it may now appear, met with the 
opposition of every other Kansas City paper and of the united St. Louis press, by 
whom the "old river captains" were quoted as ridiculing the idea. Undaunted, 
however, the Journal continued its agitation, though it was not able to bring 
about any movement looking to the realization of its idea until the following year. 

THE city divided INTO SIX WARDS. 

On the 2oth of February, 1872, the Missouri Legislature so amended the 
charter of the city as to divide it into six wards. The first ward by this enact- 
ment embraced all that part of the city between the river and Ninth street and 
east of Walnut street ; the second all that part of the city between the river and 
tenth street and between Walnut street on the east, and Lincoln and Bluflf streets 
and a line from the junction of Bluff and Fifth streets north to the river. The 
third ward was all between Ninth and Fourteenth streets east of Walnut. The 
fourth ward was all south of Fourteenth street and east of Walnut. The fifth 
ward was all south of Tenth street and west of Walnut to Lincoln and Dripp 
streets. The sixth ward was all west of Dripp, Lincoln and Bluff streets, north 
to the river, 

OTHER MATTERS. 

The principal other matters that interested the city during the year 1872, 
were as follows: An effort was made early in the year, to induce the railroads 
centering here, to erect a union passenger depot. The building that was being 
used for that purpose was a small wooden structure, on the site of the present 
elegant building, which had been erected by the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad 
on its first entrance into the city. As an encouragement to the railroads, a prop- 
osition to exempt such a depot from taxation for fifteen years, was submitted to 
the people at the spring election, but it was unfortunately defeated. 

The city and the Board of Trade during this year were most interested in 
the adjustment of the difficulties which had arisen between the county authori- 
ties and the Memphis Railroad. At one time an effort was made to secure a 
transfer of the subscription of $450,000 to the Louisiania Railroad, to the Toledo, 
Wabash & Western, which proposed that if sufficient aid was given it, that it 
would extend a line direct to this city, by the way of Moberly, Mo. An effort 
was also made to secure the building of a road between Ottawa, Kansas, and 
Emporia, and between Ottawa and Burlington. The former of these last two ef- 
forts was unsuccessful, but the latter finally succeeded, mainly through the efforts 
of W. H. Schofield, Esq., who was the president of the cbmpany. This road is 
now known as the Kansas City, Burlington & Santa Fe, and is operated in con- 
nection with the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad. 

CITY ADDITIONS. 

The plotted part of the city was enlarged durmg the years covered by this 
chapter by the following additions : 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



143 



April 4, 1870 — J. C. Merine's Sub di- 
vision. 

April 7/70— Wm. Toms' Sub-division. 

April 8, '70 — Munford & Fancher's 
Addition. 

July 9, '70 — Balis' Addition. 

July 23, '70 — Balis' Sub-division. 

August 18, '70— Matthew & Hill's 
Addition. 

September 10, '70— M. M. Evans' 
Addition. 

September 14, '70 — Pratt's Addition. 

October 21, '70 — Payne's Addition. 

November 2, '70 — Jarboe's Addition. 

November, 8, '70 — German Building 
Association Sub-division. 

July 10, '71 — M. M. Evans Resurvey 

March 21, '71 — East Cottage Place 
Addition. 

May 2, '71 — Quest's Addition. 

May 20, '71 — John Meyers' Sub-di- 
vision. 



June 2, '71 — Mulkey's Second Ad- 
dition. 

October 4, '71 — Tracy's Sub-division. 

October 24, '71 — Jaudon's Addition. 

December 16, '71 — M. J. Payne's 
Sub-division. 

January 4, '72 — Prospect Place. 

February 3, '72 — John Johnson's Sub- 
division. 

May 6, '72 — Continuation of Smart's 
Third Addition. 

June 24, '72 — Sub-division of Blocks 
in West Kansas Addition No. i. 

July 13, '72 — Union Place Addition, 

July 19, '72 — Victorie's Addition. 

October 24, '72 — Bouton Park Addi- 
tion. 

November 9, '72 — German Building 
Association Sub-division. 

November 25, '72 — Campbell Block 
Sub division. 




144 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
THE PROGRESS OF 1873 TO 1876. 

Street Railroads — Barge Line Agitation — The Panic of 187J — Efforts to get the Indian Territory 
Opened to Settlement — Efforts for Transportation Improvements — The Mail Delivery — The 
Securing of the Atchion, Topeka b' Santa Ee and the Missouri, Kansas iff Texas Railroads 
— Hoiv the Latter was Done — The Grasshopper Plague — The Revision of the City Charter — 
Efforts to Secure a Mint — The Re-organization of the Board of Trade and Erection of the 
Exchange Building. 

But little real progress was made by Kansas City during the year 1873. The 
depression preceding the panic of that year had already begun to affect public 
enterprise throughout the country, and Kansas City suffered in common with all 
other places. The population by this time had increased, by the estimates of the 
Directory to 40,740, being but a few hundred more than in 1872. There was 
little improvement or building of any kind, and every movement looking to the 
advancement of existing enterprises or the addition of new ones felt the weight 
of the national depression. However, the spirit of the people was such that they 
still struggled to secure the improvements of a public nature that they felt the city 
most needed. There was much discussion of the water works matter, and in the 
early part of the year an attempt was made to form a company to build works. 
There wai also an effort to secure the union of interest between the Kansas City, 
Wyandott & Northwestern Narrow Gauge Railroad, which had now been turned 
to the eastward toward Lexington, and the Keokuk & Kansas City Company, 
which was proposing to build a road to this city from Keokuk, but it failed. 
There was also an effort to inaugurate a railroad from Kansas City northward 
toward Chariton, Iowa. The importance of an extensive white lead manufactory 
was also much discussed and investigated by a committee of the Board of Trade. 

STREET RAILROADS AGAIN. 

Early in this year the Jackson County Horse Railroad Company was organ- 
ized, and proposed to build a street railroad from the corner of Fourth and Main 
streets by Fourth street to Wyandotte street, thence to Fifth street, thence by 
Fifth and Bluff streets and Union Avenue and Mulberry, thence north to Ninth 
street, and thence by Ninth street to the State Line, to connect with a company 
that had been organized in Wyandotte. It proposed another line from the corner 
of Fourth and Main street by the way of Fourth and Walnut to Fifth, thence by 
Fifth to Grand avenue, thence to Independence avenue, thence to Forest avenue, 
and thence southward to Twelfth street. 

About the same time there was organized the Union Depot Company. Its 
line was to run from the Exposition grounds on Twelfth street to Grand avenue, 
thence to Eleventh street, thence to Main street, thence to the junction of Main 
and Delaware, thence down Delaware to Fifth, and thence to Walnut. Another 
part of the line was to start from Sixth and Delaware, and run along Sixth to 
Broadway, thence to Fifth, thence down Bluff and Union avenues to the Kansas 
stock yards. Part of this line was built in 1873 and at the same time the wes- 
tern part of the Jackson county line, and in connection with it the Broadway 
line from Fifth to Twelfth street. The next year the depot line had some trouble 
of a financial character, and was sold, when it was bought in by the proprietors of 
the Jackson county line, and both roads were put under one management, and 
not long thereafter the Westport road passed into the same management. Since 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 145 

the consolidation of the Jackson county and Depot lines, the latter name has 
been dropped and that part of the line on Sixth street abandoned and taken up. 
It is now operated as a double track road from Broadway to Hickory street, and 
the Delaware and Twelfth street, and Independence and Forest avenue part of 
the line is operated as a circuit. 

THE BARGE LINE AGITATION OF 1 873. 

With the beginning of the year 1873 there was a more determined effort 
made to secure the establishment of barge navigation of the Missouri River. It 
was proposed now to make an effort to have this matter tested practically, and to 
that end the Board of Trade appointed a committee to ascertain if barges could 
be had, and, if so, what guaranty would be required. This committee corres- 
ponded with the Mississippi Valley Transportation Company, of St. Louis, then 
the only party on the western rivers using barges, but got little satisfaction from 
them. However it was determined to raise a guarantee fund of five thousand 
dollars, and the money was subscribed. 

While these events were transpiring the people of St. Louis were arranging 
for a convention of western Congressmen in that city, the object of which was 
to awaken a more general interest among them in the improvement of western 
rivers, and especially the Mississippi. This convention was held May 13th, and 
the Kansas City Board of Trade was invited to send delegates to attend it. The 
Board accordingly appointed as such delegates, Col. R. T. Van Horn, Col. 
James E. Marsh and Hon. H. J. Latshaw. Col. Van Horn could not attend 
and so appointed as his substitute the commercial editor of 1\\q Journal, of which 
he was editor. This gentleman had a personal acquaintance with Charles Davis, 
then editor of the St. Louis Globe, a new and very enterprising paper which as 
yet had no record on the question of Barge Navigation of the Missouri River. 
During the three days he remained in St. Louis, in attendance at the convention, 
he furnished Mr. Davis with three editorial articles on Barge Transportation on 
the Missouri from a St. Louis point of view, strongly favoring it as a St Louis 
enterprise. The other St. Louis papers which the year before had ridiculed the 
idea, now indorsed it. The "Old River Captains" were quoted in its favor, 
and singular as it may seem the Kansas City papers which the year before had 
opposed it as chimerical republished all these articles from the Globe approv- 
ingly, and urged the movement already on foot to secure a practical test. Soon 
afterward the Board of Trade committee was able to make a contract with the 
Mississippi Valley Transportation Company, to make the trial trip on a guaranty 
of $2,700, It was now a very unfavorable season of the year. There was httle 
grain, which it was proposed to load the barges with, remaining in the country, 
and the water was getting low. By the time all these difficulties could be over- 
come, and a load of grain secured, it was found that proper insurance to protect 
the grain, could not be had and its owners would have to take the risk them- 
selves. This led to an abandonment of the effort. 

THE PAMIC OF 1 873. 

Mention has been made in several places in this chapter of the financial 
panic of 1873. It is not necessary here to discuss the causes that led to that 
event further than to remark that it vvas the result of the inflated condition of 
prices which had prevailed since the war, and a most unwise contraction of the 
national currency by the action of the Secretary of the Treasury. It was precip- 
itated in September by the failure of the banking house of Jay Cooke & Co., of 
Philadelphia, and immediately spread to all parts of the country, causing a sud- 
den suspension of nearly every bank in the land, and the collapse of prices to an 
equality with the contracted volume of the currency. The banks in Kansas City 
suspended payment on the 25th of September, and for a time nearly stopped all 
10 




TOOTLE, HANNA & CO.'S WHOLESALE BUILDING, KANSAS CITY, MO. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 147 

business by the locking up of the funds of their customers. This action of the 
banks, however, was rendered necessary by the suspension of their correspond- 
ents east. At that season of the year the movement of currency was to the west, 
and for them to have continued would have resulted only in paying out what cur- 
rency they had on hand, which would have been done in a day or two, when 
they would inevitably have gone into bankruptcy. The merchants held a meeting 
at the Board of Trade that day and adopted resolutions approving of the course 
taken by the banks, and pledging them their cordial support in whatever efforts 
they might adopt to remedy the difficulty. In a few days new accounts were 
opened by the banks with their customers, and new checks were paid from the 
new deposits, the banks promising to pay old deposits as speedily as possible. 
This arrangement was acquiesced in by the people, and soon business was re- 
sumed, though on a much restricted scale. 

The First National Bank was at this time the one of chiefest interest to the 
people. At an annual election in the winter of 1872, Howard M. Holden, Esq., 
had been elected president, having previously been its efficient cashier. By his 
enterprise and liberal management he had advanced the bank to a leading posi- 
tion, and at this time it was the chief dependence of the live stock, packing, and 
grain interests, which were now considerable, as will be shown in succeeding 
chapters, for money with which to move the products of the country. It was ac- 
cordingly determined by the stock-holders, who were all business men of Kansas 
City, to strengthen it, and to that end its capital was increased from $250,000 
to $500,000. 

The effect of this panic was to cause great depression in local improvements 
and town development, attended with a decrease of population, and the city did 
not recover from these effects until 1876; otherwise it was an advantage, for in 
the depression caused in the surrounding country it led merchants to trade here 
much more largely than they had done before. In their depressed situation they 
felt the importance of buying nearer home than they had been accustomed to do, 
so that they might not have to carry such large stocks, and so that they could 
turn their capital oftener. For the same reasons a closer market became desira- 
ble to country shippers of all kinds, which caused Kansas City markets to be more 
liberally patronized. The same causes affected banks, and after the panic a 
much larger number of the banks in the adjacent parts of the country, and some 
in Colorado and Texas, began to keep their deposits here. Hence the effect of 
the panic was to cause a development of trade and the markets, and make Kan- 
sas City much more of a financial center than she had ever been before. 

OPENING OF THE INDIAN TERRITORY. 

The depression which, it was evident from the first, would follow the panic, 
led the people to look about them for means of rehef. One thing suggested was 
the opening of the Indian Territory to settlement, which would cause a large im- 
migration, and create population for Kansas City to trade with. This was not 
a new idea at that time, having been embodied in a bill for that purpose, intro- 
duced into Congress in 1868, by Colonel Van Horn, while representing this dis- 
trict in that body; but it was revised at this time, hoping that the effort might 
now be attended with better success. To this end, the Board of Trade joined 
the National Board of Trade, and caused to be entered upon the official pro- 
gramme of that body, for discussion at a meeting to be held in Chicago, in Octo- 
ber, the following resolution, which, it was hoped, might receive the sanction of the 
National Board, whose indorsement was relied upon, to give the proposition 
strength in Congress : 

Whereas, It' is the duty of the Government and people of the United 
States, to inaugurate and execute such a policy toward the Indian tribes, occupy- 



148 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

ing the National Territory, as will most rapidly bring them under dominion, and 
usages of our laws and civilization. And 

Whereas, Experience has shown that the Indian tribes may be assimilated 
to the prevailing civilization of the country, and be gradually brought to a recog- 
nition of the highest social and civil relations of life. And 

Whereas, By the exclusive occupancy of the Indian Territory, under tribal 
laws, the hand of industry and the arts of civilized life have been excluded trom 
a large area in the midst of the continent; an area rich in agricultural and miner- 
al resources, with highly favorable climatic advantages ; and whose exhaustless 
treasures need to be developed, to supply the surrounding and incoming white 
population now pressing into the southwest, and thus contribute to the prosperity 
of the whole country. And 

Whereas, The enlightened and cultured among the tribes have indicated their 
unequivocal desire for the presence of our civilization in their midst, as a power- 
ful ally in their struggle for a higher social and civil life. And 

Whereas, The President of the United States, in a late annual message, 
invoked such legislation by Congress as will contribute to those high purposes. 
Therefore : 

Resolved, That Congress be and is hereby respectfully memorialized to estab- 
lish, without delay, a Territorial Government over the country known as the 
Indian Territory, bringing the people thereof under the laws and jurisdiction of 
the United States, on such an equitable basis as will secure — ist. A homestead to 
the head of each Indian family, the title to which cannot be alienated, for a 
designated term of years. 2nd. The sale of the remaining lands on such terms 
as will induce the rapid settlement and development of the Territory ; the pro- 
ceeds of said sales to be held or invested by the Government as a fund, the 
interest on which shall be distributed annually and equitably among the several 
tribes. 3rd. The establishment of free schools, to the end that the Indians may 
learn the arts and occupations of civilized life. 

Col. James E. Marsh and Hon. H. J. Latshaw were selected as delegates of 
the Board of Trade to attend the meeting of the National Board in Chicago, and 
urge the adoption of these resolutions. It was not reached at that meeting, but 
was reached at an adjourned meeting held in Baltimore, in January, 1874, which 
was attended by Col. Marsh and Col. Van Horn, at which it was adopted and 
sent to Washington to be presented to Congress and urged upon the attention of 
that body. At the election in the fall of 1874 Hon. B. J. Franklin, of this city, 
was elected to represent this district in Congress, and as soon as he could, under 
the rules and usages of the house, he took up this subject and introduced a bill 
for the purpose indicated in this resolution, but with no better success than had 
attended the efforts of Col. Van Horn. 

THE NEW WEST. 

At a session of Congress in 1873, ^^^ Senate created a commission to inquire 
into the transportation facilities and needs of the country with a view, it was 
understood, of taking such action, looking to improvements as the country might 
need. Hon. William Windom, of Minnesota, was chairman of this commission. 
The people of Kansas City watched its movements with great interest, hoping for 
an opportunity to lay before it the needs of improvements in the country in 
which she was interested. Learning that the commission would hold a session in 
St. Louis, the Board of Trade appointed Col. Van Horn and Gen. W. H. Powell 
to attend it, and lay before it the needs of this country. These gentlemen 
prepared an address far that purpose which, on account of its able and accurate 
recital of existing facts, at that time, has great historical value now. It is, there- 
fore, inserted here entire. It should be remarked that it was in this memorial 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 149 

that the country tributary to Kansas City's trade was first styled the "New- 
West." 

the new west its resources, agricultural interests, commerce and 

transportation needs. 

Board of Trade Rooms, ) 

Kansas City, October 25, 1873. ) 

To Hon. William Wifidom, and Members of the Committee of the Senate of the 
United States : 

Gentlemen: — The Board of Trade of Kansas City desire to represent to 
your committee the needs of the country comprehended by its commerce in 
marketing the products of its soil and receiving the merchandise consumed by it 
in exchange. 

The country in question is new to the commerce of the Union — its import- 
ance dating from the close of the late civil war — its population in that time having 
increased at a moderate estimate one million in number. 

It embraces Western Missouri, Western Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, 
the Indian Territory, Northwestern Texas and New Mexico — covering twelve de- 
grees of latitude, sixteen degrees of longitude, and comprises an area of more 
than 600,000 square miles. 

This vast district of country has but one navigable river — the Missouri — 
and its lines of commerce are thus exclusively by railway, except the limited 
margin on either side of that river. 

The system of railway construction for this interior region — the geographical 
center of the United States and of the continent — is, so far as the great trunk 
lines are involved, very far advanced, and are concentrated at the mouth of the 
Kansas River, the nearest and most available point for all the country to the 
navigable waters of the Missouri River — as you will see by the map. 

The agricultural portion of this part of the Union embraces the portions of 
Missouri and Iowa referred to, the States of Nebraska and Kansas, and the In- 
dian Territory, and is of a more uniform character in quality and production than 
any equal area on the globe. The soil is of exceptional fertility, and the official 
report by the census of 1870 shows it to embrace the largest and most productive 
corn and winter wheat area in the world. 

It also embraces the only natural pastoral region in North America, where, 
from time beyond the knowledge of this continent, have been subsisted the 
countless herds of aboriginal cattle, exceeding in number the domestic herds of 
the globe. These are now being supplanted by the cattle of civilization. The 
present season has brought together for market, at the several points in Kansas, 
on the feeding grounds of the Kansas City stock market, over $7,000,000 worth 
of grass-fed cattle alone. 

In addition to this, a careful computation from the crop statistics of the 
census of 1870 shows that for the year ending June of that year there was pro- 
duced in this region 56,452,116 bushels of wheat; 631,353 bushels of rye; 89,- 
236,854 bushels of corn; 24,367,214 bushels of oats ; 1,429,946 bushels of barley ; 
1,856,138 tons of hay; 6,235,366 pounds of tobacco. 

In live stock it produced: Of hogs, 2,566,185; cattle, other than exclusively 
grass-fed, 533,833; of grass-fed, 2,061,343; exclusive of the Indian Territory 
where there are large herds but from which there are no returns; of mules, 116, 
585; of sheep, 2,233,326; of horses, 835,833. 

The value in soil products of the amount produced by these figures, at the 
current market rates paid at Kansas City this season, would amount to $85,228, 
837. And the live stock, at a low average per head, are in value $26,557,630" 



150 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Or, in the aggregate, this portion of the Union produced in 1870, from its 
soil alone, a wealth of more than $128,000,000. 

A country thus productive, and which has become so practically within 
seven years, and which has seen its three most productive years since the census 
figures were obtained, is, we most respectfully submit, entitled to be heard on a 
question so vital as that for which your committee was raised to inquire into and 
report upon — transportation. 

And we approach this part of the subject with the statement — that, as com- 
pared with other portions of the Union affected by both the foreign and domestic 
markets, it is pratically cut off from both, and in times of abundant crops its 
products do not admit of shipment with profit to the producer — only when prices 
are high, induced by failure of crops east of the Mississippi or in Europe, or 
both, can its grain be profitably transported to the Atlantic seaboard by present 
facilities. 

From Kansas City, the converging point of the principal great trunk lines, 
to New York is by rail fourteen hundred miles, being nearer to that city than from 
any point of the Missouri River above the mouth of the Kansas, and for this 
reason taken as the standard of computation. 

Taking the rate of transportation by rail, as we find it in the documents 
printed by Congress, to be twelve and a half mills per ton per mile, we find that 
the cost of a bushel of sixty pounds, from Kansas City to New York, would be 
fifty-two and a half cents — or eighty-seven and a half cents per one hundred 
pounds for all products. 

This we may assume to be the rate by all rail, and for our corn and pork, 
which come into market after the close of navigation, rail transportation is our 
only dependence. As to corn, it is quoted the day on which this is written in 
New York at fifty-eight and a half to sixty cents per bushel — leaving to the farmer, 
the shipper and for all expenses of getting it in the car at Kansas City, a margin of 
six to eight cents. Is it strange that it is burned for fuel to save the destruction 
of timber? and cheaper than coal at cost of mining and delivery? 

It is unnecessary to lengthen the argument by parallel illustrations as to other 
products, as this one affecting our great staple is sufficient — everything being 
governed by it. 

NATURAL OUTLETS. 

But these disabilities can be remedied. They are artificial, and result from 
causes which are susceptible of remedy — and which have been in great part 
removed by private and corporate enterprise. 

And we are before your committee to day because it is proposed to devise a 
general system of relief for the whole country, by opening up cheaper channels 
of transportation by the common fund of the nation. And because what is need- 
ed in this respect by us can only be done under national authority. 

There are two outlets for the products we have referred to : 

One by way of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. 

One by the harbor at Galveston, Texas. 

BY GALVESTON HARBOR. 

We shall consider them irf the reverse order in which they are mentioned. 

From Kansas City to Galveston it is now eight hundred miles as the rail- 
road are constructed, but which can be reduced within seven hundred miles — or 
just half the distance to New York. It is as to cost of transportation, as if Kan- 
sas City was removed east to Columbus, Ohio. The question as it addresses 
itself to us is : 

"Why should Kansas City,' and the country surrounding it, with its one 
hundred millions of annual production be compelled to seek the market through 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 151 

Columbus, Ohio, any more than that Columbus should be compelled to seek her 
market by way of Kansas City?" 

If the port of Galveston was made accessible for ocean going vessels, the 
wheat and corn of the Missouri Valley could seek the ocean at twenty-six and 
one-fourth cents per bushel, and pay the same rate it does to-day to New York at 
fifty-two and a half cents — adding a quarter of a dollar to the price of the 150,- 
000,000 bushels of these crops, produced in 1870 — or more than $28,000,000 to 
the farmers of this New West every year. 

Then the country embraced in this central portion of the nation would be, 
as to foreign markets, as favorably situated as the States of Indiana and Ohio, 
and our rich lands increased in corresponding value. 

And why the national treasury should not improve this harbor equally with 
those of the lakes and Atlantic seaboard is, we submit, not a question for discus- 
sion. Its need is all that requires to be estabhshed. And this we feel our illus- 
tration and the facts recited most conclusively establish. 

BY THE MISSISSIPPI. 

The other outlet for the upper Missouri to the markets of the world is by 
the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. 

There are two questions to be considered in connection with this route : 

The navigation of the Missouri River by barges, its seasons of low water and 
ice — and the low water and ice of the Mississippi River above the mouth of the 
Ohio. 

And a connection by railway with the Mississippi at a point below ice, and 
at permanently deep water. 

The cost of shipping grain, per bushel, from St. Louis to New Orleans may 
be fixed by present facilities, at a high stage of water, at eight to ten cents. It 
may be brought to a lower minimum, but we prefer to be within actual figures, 
as demonstrated in practical transportation. 

At present, as the channel is in the Missouri, it would require lighter tonnage 
in vessels, and thus the cost be somewhat enhanced over the same distances in 
the Mississippi. We depend entirely upon conjecture when we put the cost from 
Kansas City to St. Louis, by barges, at about the same figures — or in all about 
16 to 20 cents per bushel from Kansas City to New Orleans. 

This would be a saving to ocean ports, over the present rates to New York, 
of 32^ cents for all grain for European demand, and of 22^ cents to New York 
itself, counting ten cents from New Orleans to New York. 

We know, it is claimed, and we believe within the limits of practical demon- 
stration, that these figures can be materially reduced, but we prefer to take what 
has been done, as it is ample to command consideration — leaving to the future 
and mutual enterprise to reduce the cost by both routes. The point we desire to 
enforce being the relative cost between the two — both being susceptible of farther 
cheapening. 

The Missouri River has not been tested by being navigated by grain barges 
in tow of steamers, as has the Mississippi between St. Louis and New Orleans. 
It is believed by practical men that it can be so used successfully, and we have 
so considered it in estimating the cost of transportation. But frankness requires 
us to say that it has yet to be demonstrated. 

But conceding that it is so, it is insufficient as an outlet for the products 
of the vast area of country dependent upon it. And for these reasons: 

From August until the close of November is the low water season, when the 
channel contains but from three and a half to five feet of water. From the last 
week in November to the middle of March, navigation is suspended by ice. 
True, in some seasons the interruption from this cause is more brief, but there is 
no safety within that period, and even by steamboats, it is seldom attempted, until 



152 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

the freezing season has entirely passed. And above the mouth of the Kansas 
River, the obstructions from ice is often some weeks later. 

Thus the season of good navigation in the Missouri may be included from 
April to August — at its best after its annual rise in June. 

Our corn crop is never ready for shipment until ice has closed the river, and 
our pork crop, made from it, necessarily so, as well as most of the beef — although 
a portion of this can go forward before ice is formed. The wheat, in part, may 
go before the close of navigation, but so far as the Missouri can be availed of, 
most of our products must lie in store until the opening of navigation in the 
spring. 

The same obstacles await us between St. Louis and Cairo — both from low 
water in the autumn months and ice and low water during those of the winter. 

The general result arrived at by these facts and figures is, that this central 
area of the country has a common interest with the whole Mississippi Valley, in 
the removal of obstructions to navigation in the channels of that river and its 
tributaries, and the removal of the barrier at its mouth, as the cheapest and most 
available outlet to the markets of the world. 

But confined as we are to the one river, the main dependence for gathering 
the crops and concentrating the products of the agricultural lands for transport 
is, and for all time must be, upon the railway. And for fully one-half the year, 
we must use the railroad to reach the Mississippi; and to fully utilize that river, 
it must be reached by rail below the mouth of the Ohio, where an open channel 
and deep water can be found throughout the year. 

THE MISSISSIPPI AT MEMPHIS. 

Private enterprise has already fixed upon the point for this connection at 
Memphis, and the work of constructing a railroad from Kansas City to that city 
begun — the first hundred miles being well advanced, and the work going forward 
at this time. The importance of this connection, and the aid of your committee, 
and through you of Congress, will be seen from the considerations we present. 

From the mouth of the Kansas River to St. Louis, by the Missouri, is 400 
miles. 

From St. Louis to Memphis, 450 miles. 

From Memphis to New Orleans, 750 miles — or 1,600 miles in all, from Kan- 
sas City to New Orleans. 

In the season when the Missouri is closed, it is by rail to St. Louis, 283 
miles, and from St. Louis to Memphis, 319 miles; 602 miles by rail from the 
mouth of the Kansas to Memphis, where the permanently open river and deep 
water is reached. 

By air line from Kansas City to Memphis it is 365 miles, and can be trav- 
ersed by rail within 390 miles — in round numbers, 400 miles. 

The upper Missouri Valley can thus reach the Mississippi River below ice, 
and at permanently deep water, by 200 miles less by rail transportation than as 
now employed by way of St. Louis. 

By employing 107 miles longer rail transit than at present, 450 miles of river 
are saved, as against the route by St. Louis; and by employing 212 less miles of 
railway, the same point is reached by all rail, as now. And in both cases the 
only obstacles now existing are completely and entirely overcome. 

This obtained, and uniform freights throughout the year are secured, or, if 
there is any difference, the winter freights will be lower than the summer, from 
the fact that the boats that are driven from the upper rivers by ice, will seek the 
lower Mississippi for winter employment, making tonnage more abundant than in 
the summer. 

Then with the obstructions at the mouth of the Mississippi removed, or 
avoided, ocean steamers could land at Memphis just as freely as at New Orleans, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 153 

and grain be loaded direct from the elevators, and shipped either to New York, 
Philadelphia, Boston or to Europe ; and the flour made from our winter wheat, 
equal to any in the Union, be shipped by the shortest route to the West Indian 
and South American markets. 

It would practically place our grain port within four hundred miles of the 
mouth of the Kansas, and give us both for export and import the lowest rates, 
and uniform at all seasons. 

Taking the same rates of charges on freight by river and rail, as we have 
used above, we could by this proposed route place grain in Memphis at 15 cents, 
in New Orleans at 20 cents. New York at 30 cents, and Liverpool at 35 cents 
per bushel — or even by rehandling at New Orleans in addition to Memphis, it 
would only make the cost of our grain at New York and Liverpool 35 and 40 re- 
spectively; or a saving over present rates to Europe of 36^ cents for every bush- 
el of the grain of western Iowa, western Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. 

At this writing, grain from St. Loui* to Memphis costs 2254 cents per 100 
lbs., or about 14 cents per bushel. To New Orleans by barge, 30 cents per 100 
lbs., or 18 cents per bushel. By barge from Kansas City at corresponding rates 
to those now paid, grain at Memphis would cost 20 to 22 cents, and at New Or- 
leans 24 to 26 cents per bushel. 

But with railroad to Memphis to-day, we could save 5 to 7 cents at the rates 
now charged on the Mississippi River ; and this saving would hold good pro rata 
on any reduction which improved facilities in transportation might give in the fu- 
ture. 

It is thus demonstrated, not by presumptive figures and contingencies in the 
future, but upon actual prices, as paid to-day, that with railway connection be- 
tween the Missouri River and the Mississippi — at the mouth of the Kansas and 
at Memphis — the surplus of our annual product of 146,000,000 bushels of grain 
can find its cheapest and most available outlet to market. 

There is another element in this proposed route to which we have not allud- 
ed — that of time. 

The Missouri river, down stream, is not safe for navigation by night, and 
has never been used by steamers descending the river — the practice always, and 
made imperative by the rules of the underwriters, being to land and remain at 
moorings during the darkness. It would require from three to four days for a 
fleet of barges from Kansas City to reach St. Louis, and longer in proportion to 
distance from all points above; while changing cargo at St. Louis and thence to 
Memphis, would require eight to ten days' time for our grain to reach that point. 

Cars could be loaded at any point on the railroads of the upper Missouri, or 
from the elevators at Kansas City and unloaded into vessels or elevators at Mem- 
phis in from thirty-six to forty hours, thus adding largely to the profit of ship- 
ment — saving a week in time and the high rates of insurance above the mouth of 
the Ohio and in the Missouri River. 

There is but one more proposition in this connection to discuss, and that is 
the point on the Missouri River at which the railroad connecting with the Missis- 
sippi should commence. We have assumed it to be at the mouth of the Kansas 
River — and for the reasons. 

That is the nearest and most available point for the country in question to 
reach navigation, as an examination of the map demonstrates : 

It has been so recognized by becoming the converging point for the great 
trunk lines of railway already built and in operation — being to-day the commer- 
cial center of all the country embraced in this memorial. 

The Missouri River, below the Kansas, is open for navigation later in the 
autumn and earUer in the spring, making a month's difference in navigation, in 
some seasons, over points above, and having a larger volume of water, is safer 
for river craft and heavier tonnage than above the mouth of the Kansas. 



154 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

And it is the nearest point at which the Missouri River can be reached for all 
the country west and north — the distance being increased from either above or 
below, as the map will demonstrate. 

And because the construction of this important work has already been com- 
menced, and over one million of dollars expended upon it. 

We have thus briefly laid before you the leading facts in regard to the 
important portion of the common territory of the Union, with which we are 
bound up in common interests and in common destiny. 

We have shown that it produces nearly one hundred and fifty millions of 
bushels of grain annually. 

We have demonstrated that as a meat and wool-producing region it sur- 
passes any other portions of the United States — and that as yet it is in the infancy 
of its development in this respect. 

We have not averted to its wealth in iron, coal and lead — for the disabilities 
under which its agricultural labors are immediate and pressing — but in all these 
mineral resources it is equal to any portion of the Union. 

We have shown that by distance and other obstacles it is practically cut off 
from the markets of our own nation and the world. 

We have shown how by two natural and near outlets it can be placed, as to 
markets, on a footing with the most favored interior districts of the Union. 

And we claim that if so favored, and its products allowed to reach a market, 
that the effect will be not only beneficial to its own people, but will open up to 
the industrial masses of other portions an abundant and cheap supply of all the 
staple elements of food, both now and in increasing volume for all time to come. 

The relief then asked by this portion of the people of the United States 
may be briefly stated : 

1. The improvement of the harbor at Galveston, so as to allow of ocean 
going vessels to land at the wharves of that city. 

2. The removal or avoidance of the obstruction at the mouths of the Mis- 
sissippi. 

3. To aid in securing a connection with permanent deep water and perma- 
nent freedom from ice with the Mississippi, as indicated, by railway from the 
mouth of the Kansas River to Memphis. 

The two first come under the general power of Congress, touching river and 
harbor improvement. 

As to the latter, we can see no difference between connecting commercial 
points by rail and by canal. And we are thoroughly convinced that in all the 
projects submitted to you for the better accommodation of the different portions 
of the Union, there has been no one proposed conferring so large benefit upon 
such important interests and so large an area of country, that can be afforded at 
so small a cost to the National Treasury as this. 

Were it within the scope of this memorial, or within the purposes for which 
your committee has been raised, we could demonstrate that what we ask, to thus 
connect us with the Mississippi, can be fully accomplished, and that speedily, 
without the expenditure of a dollar in money by the General Government. 

And upon a favorable consideration of the matters herein presented, and its 
recognition by your committee as deserving the attention and consideration of 
Congress, the method by which it can be thus accomplished will be laid before 
that body through your committee, 

R. T. VAN HORN, 
W. H. POWELL, 
On behalf of the Board of Trade. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 155 



FREE MAIL DELIVERY. 



The only other movement of importance undertaken by the people of Kansas 
City during the year 1873 was to secure a free delivery of mail matter in the city. 
Congress, on the 3d of March of that year, had enacted that this should be done 
in cities that in 1870 had a population of over 20,000. On the 17th of May the 
Board of Trade memorialized the Postmaster General to establish a general free 
delivery in Kansas City, and by means of this memorial and other efforts, it was 
secured and put into effect on the ist day of July, the number of carriers then 
employed being eight. 

THE WATER-WORKS. 

The subject of water-works presented itself again early in 1873, ^^^^ the 
Legislature was induced to pass a bill specially authorizing Kansas City to make 
a contract for the construction of water-works. This bill was passed March 24th, 
and was regarded as having conferred upon Kansas City such powers as would 
enable her to offer acceptable terms to some party of capitalists. The National 
Water-Works Company, of New York, soon became an applicant for the contract, 
and on the 27th of October, after the matter had been much discussed, the city 
council adopted an ordinance which became a contract between the city and the 
National Water-Works Company. The company began the work early in 1874 
and completed them in 1875. 

ENLARGEMENT OF LIMITS — REDIVISION. 

On the 3d of March the Legislature adopted amendments to the charter of 
the city, whereby its boundaries were enlarged. The limits fixed in this charter 
were as follows : Beginning at the river at the intersection of the State line, 
thence running southward along the State line to Twenty-second street ; thence 
east along the half section line dividing sections seven, eight, nine, to Woodland 
avenue; thence north by Woodland avenue to Independence avenue; thence 
west to the half section line dividing section thirty-three, and thence north to the 
river. This is the present limits. 

At the same time the city wards were re-established. The First ward 
was made to include all that part of the city east of Main street and north of 
Independence avenue; the Second all that part east of Main street between Inde- 
pendence. avenue and Thirteenth street east to Campbell street, and from thence 
to the east limits, all between Independence avenue and Twelfth street ; the 
Third, all east of Main street and south of Thirteenth, and of Twelfth street east of 
Campbell, to Twentieth street, and from thence all east of the quarter section line 
which runs along the alley between Main street and Baltimore avenue; the Fourth 
ward lay west of the Third, and extended to the city limits on the south, and to 
the State line on the west, and its northern boundary was Thirteenth street from 
Main west to Summit street, then Mulkey west to Dripp street, and Twelfth street 
from Dripp to the State line ; the Fifth ward was all north of Fourth and west of 
Main street to Penn street and a line in continuation of Penn street from Fifth 
street to the river; and the Sixth ward was all west of the Fifth and north of the 
Fourth. 

EVENTS OF 1874. 

In the spring of 1874 the Topeka, Lawrence & Kansas City Railway Com- 
pany, heretofore mentioned as organized at Topeka in 1872, for the purpose of 
building a road to Kansas City, gave way to a new company called the Kansas 
Midland Railway Company, of which a number of the officers of the A., T. & 
S. F. were members, and by August the road was built to Lawrence. 

In October the Kansas City company contracted with the Midland company 
to build the Kansas City end of the line, and it was completed in the following 



156 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

December. Pi^evious to this, in August, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe com- 
pany began to run its trains to Kansas City by the way of the Midland to Law- 
rence, thence over the Lawrence & Pleasant Hill Railroad, which was built in 
1872, to Olathe, and thence over the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf to this 
city. 

THE M., K. & T. RAILROAD AND GALVESTON TRADE. 

The same week in August that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad 
began to run its trains to Kansas City, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad 
began to run its trains here also. Tliis came about in this way : This road had 
been completed to Denison, Texas, the winter previous, where it made connec- 
tion with the Texas Central for Galveston. Kansas City availed itself of this 
fact to make an effort, now that it had such connections with Galveston, to realize 
the old dream of 1856, to effect an outlet by that port to the markets of the 
world. 

In May, 1874, Dr. Edward Dunscomb presented the subject to the Board of 
Trade, which, together with the city press, took it up. In the latter part of that 
month the Board of Trade sent a delegation to Galveston to investigate the situ- 
ation. They were received with many manifestations of pleasure by the people 
and commercial organizations of Galveston. This delegation consisted of Dr. 
Edward Dunscomb, Vice-President of the Board of Trade, Col. Jas. E. Marsh, 
Col. R. T. Van Horn, Dr. M. Munford, T. J. Bigger, A. C. Dyas, B. A. 
Feineman, M. Dively and Maj. G. W. Branham. These gentlemen left Kansas 
City, May 12, and after about a week's absence returned and submitted to the 
Board of Trade the following report : 

To the Board of Trade : 

Gentlemen : Your committee appointed to visit the cities of Galveston and 
Houston, in Texas, and such other points and parties as might be necessary to 
the object in view — direct trade with the Gulf of Mexico and the export of the 
grain of this region of the West — have performed that duty, and beg leave to 
report what has been accomplished. 

The committee left Kansas City on Tuesday evening, May 12th, at 5:15 p. 
m., and arrived at the city of Galveston on Thursday, at three p. m. — forty-six 
hours — two of which were consumed in Fort Scott — making the actual running 
time forty-four hours between the two cities. 

The committee was most cordially and hospitably received by the city au- 
thorities and the commercial interests of Galveston, which was during our stay, 
incessant and uninterrupted — every facility on land and water was afforded in 
furthering the objects of our visit — and we can say in brief, that our stay was 
made as pleasant as profitable, and crowned by a hospitality and friendly co-oper- 
ation that admits of no qualification — and for which your committee and your 
board can not be too grateful — and has incurred an obligation which we trust the 
future will soon enable us to reciprocate. 

In the city of Houston we were met in the same open-handed and generous 
manner. The mayor, the city authorities, the merchants, the manufacturers, the 
navigation interests — all met us with a hearty hospitality, and an active sympathy 
with the purpose of our visit, that supplemented in every particular and to the 
fullest extent the reception given us by their sister city. 

The Houston and Texas Central Railroad, through their superintendent. 
Gen. J. Durand, met us at the line of the State, and tendered us the privileges of 
their various lines during our stay, which enabled us to visit the capital of the 
State, and see the most thriving portions of Texas. We desire to acknowledge, 
in this formal manner, our obligations to this road for courtesies in all respects 
and at all times, and which largely contributed to the purposes of our visit. 

Our thanks are also due to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas road, through 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 157 

Col. R. S. Stevens, general manager, and the Missouri River, Fort Scott & 
Gulf Railroad, through Maj. B. S. Henning, superintendent, for like favors and 
courtesies. 

THE RESULTS OF OUR VISIT. 

The object in view, for which the committee was raised was — direct trade 
with the Gulf, and particularly the shipment of grain from Kansas City and the 
Missouri Valley. 

We can only say that in this direction we have been successful, beyond our 
expectation and beyond what we had a right to expect. 

The merchants of Galveston, the ship owners, the shipping agents, the capi- 
talists, the harbor interests — all met us with every assurance that could be de- 
sired — low rates of freightage, facilities for transferring grain from cars to ships, 
adequate to fully test the capabilities of the route, and ample capital to handle all 
that may be sent. The facilities at Galveston now existing afford the means nec- 
essary to a full test of the advantages offered by that port. The cars run within 
a few feet of the ships at the wharf, and in all cases are at a higher elevation than 
the decks of the ships, thus unloading by gravity, and rendering all cartage, or 
carrying by stevedores, or lighterage unnecessary. 

It will require at the beginning, or in the first shipments, some care in tim- 
ing the shipments, so that delay may not take place in transferring from cars to 
steamers and ships, until the facilities for a large and constant grain trade are 
provided. 

In calculating the practicability of handling our grain with profit, we laid be- 
fore the merchants of Galveston the present rates from Kansas City to New York, 
Baltimore and New Orleans, the distances by rail and by water, with all the facts 
and elements involved in the various routes. And taking rates for distance, 
they unhesitatingly announced not only their willingness but their ability to han- 
dle our grain profitably. And as an earnest of their feeling in the matter, two 
orders were given, for a cargo each, to members of your committee to be for- 
warded at any time. 

At Houston we were met in the same spirit. The water route from Hous- 
ton to the waters of the bay of Galveston is by Buffalo bayou and the San Jacinto 
River, which is now navigable for boats of the class of our Missouri River steam- 
ers, and from some six miles below the city has ample water to the bay, at which 
point there is nearly completed a ship canal to the outer bar of Galveston harbor 
— thus, when completed, making a water route of the depth of the bar from the 
City of Houston. 

As all freight for the gulf must go to Houston, the advantages of this open 
channel must be apparent at a glance — as it gives competition at once, and a 
choice of routes, as well as of increased facilities for the rapid transit and speedy 
shipment of grain that may be sent forward. Not only this, but it will aid in 
stimulating effort, and be the means of an earlier development of the trade in 
question than probable with but a single port and a single route to it. 

Your committee are pleased to say that they found both at Galveston and 
Houston, only a spirit of emulation as to which should do most to inaugurate this 
important trade — the rivalry being that of enterprising men intent upon the gen- 
eral good to their respective cities and of Texas, and not a local jealousy that is 
too often found in similar situations — a broad and generous policy which the 
committee cannot but commend to our people and our neighbors. 

And lastly to crown all these favorable conditions and prospects, we were 
met by the controlling authorities of the Central Railroad with a spirit of fairness 
and enlightened policy that makes all that had heretofore promised so much, an 
assured fact. 

The Houston and Texas Central road controls three hundred and forty-one 



158 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

miles of the eight hundred between this city and the Gulf — from Red River to 
Houston — and without its co-operation the difficulties would be insurmountable. 
They had studied the situation well and thoroughly, as we found when the con- 
ference was held with your committee, and they summed up the whole question, 
when Vice-President Baker closed his remarks with the declaration — "We will 
make a rate that will compel the shipment of your grain to the Gulf." This 
declaration was made with full reference to existing rates to other seaports, and 
designed to cover the whole case. 

Of necessity, no rates specific at this time could be given or asked, as a con- 
ference of the Central with connecting lines will be necessary, not only to estab- 
lish through rates, but the other details necessary for the working of all lines over 
which the traffic is to pass, both for out-going and in-coming transportation. 
But so far as the lines in the State of Texas are concerned, we are warranted in 
saying that all obstacles are already overcome — and business may commence at 
once. 

It does not come within the purpose for which the committee was raised, to 
go beyond the simple question of grain transportation and export — nor is it neces- 
sary to enlarge upon the general advantages and commerce to flow from the suc- 
cessful opening of such trade. We need only advert to that question and say 
that at Galveston, at Houston, at Austin, and from merchants and business men 
from all portions of that Empire State, which we met at the State fair, we found 
the liveliest interest in the establishment of a more direct and intimate commercial 
relations with Kansas City, and could have spent a month in travel and intercourse 
with her cities and towns had we accepted half the invitations pressed upon us. 

This is a suggestive fact to our people. There is really no conflict in produc- 
tions of Texas and the Missouri Valley. They want what we produce and we 
need what they grow — it is an exchange of commodities that await both, not a 
competition in products. And we being nearer to them than any country of 
similar production, can sell them cheaper than they can obtain elsewhere, and 
they being nearer to us than any seaport, can supply us at the minimum cost. 
And the day is not far distant when Texas will furnish from her own soil all the 
sugar needed in the Kansas City market. 

In conclusion, your committee do not deem it foreign to the subject to advert 
to the early policy of Kansas City in the direction of trade direct with the Gulf 
of Mexico. As early as 1857, a railroad charter was obtained for that purpose, 
out of which has grown the Cameron road, the bridge and the Fort Scott & Gulf 
road. In 1865, a like committee, on the part of the city, was mainly instrumen- 
tal in securing, at the great Indian council at Fort Smith, a treaty concession for 
a road across the Indian Territory, upon which the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
road was constructed — now happily at last a Kansas City road. Many were the 
obstacles from the beginning that have intervened, but practical courage and per- 
sistence have at last won the great object, the consummation of which may date 
from this day ; and, though the struggle was long and trying, yet the results 
achieved are worth it all, and Kansas City may now look forward to a future 
that will repay discounting a hundred per cent beyond any of her achievements 
in the past ! 

Congratulating your board, the people of our city and the entire Missouri 
valley, upon the auspicious beginning of a new era in their prosperity, your com- 
mittee ask to be discharged. 

■ R. T. VAN HORN, 
J. E. MARSH, 
EDWARD DUNSCOMB, 
On behalf of the Delegation." 

In July following, a large delegation from Houston and Galveston made a 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 159 

return visit to Kansas City, where they were banqueted and then taken to Colo- 
rado and back by our citizens. The result of this interchange of visits was that 
the business men of Houston and Galveston united with those of Kansas City in 
an effort to bring about an arrangement between the Fort Scott and M., K. & T. 
R. R. and the Texas Central Railroad, by which there might be an inter- 
change of business between the people of Kansas City and those of Texas, and 
by which Galveston might be made a seaport for all the New West. It was 
through the success of these efforts that the trains of the M., K. & T. R. R. 
came to be first operated to this city — the same week in August that the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe was completed here. For several years afterward there was 
a continuation of the effort on the part of both the people of Kansas City and of 
the Texas cities, to secure modifications of the railroad arrangement which would 
facilitate business ; and, though much success attended these efforts, there were 
difficulties in the way of complete immediate success that the cities and the rail- 
roads could not at once overcome. There were business connections established, 
however, during these visits, that have continued and increased until there is a fan- 
share of the Texas trade enjoyed by Kansas City. 

The infection of this movement was caught by the up river towns, and in 
January, 1875, Kansas City was visited by a delegation from Omaha, Council 
Bluffs, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City and St. Joseph, who were on their way to 
Texas, to seek an opening of trade relations with the people of that State, and 
to give additional strength to the movement already initiated by Kansas City. 
They were warmly received and sent on their way with words of encouragement. 
While here they united with the people of Kansas City, through the Board of 
Trade, in a memorial to Congress praying for the opening of the Indian Territory, 

THE GRASSHOPPER INVASION. 

The invasion of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Western Missouri, by the 
grasshoppers; or more properly speaking, the Rocky Mountain Locusts, in 1874, 
occurred in the month of August; and was fraught with great disaster to the agri- 
cultural interests of those States and to the trade of Kansas City. The locusts 
came in immense clouds and literally covered the territory mentioned. Their 
first appearance was generally at a great altitude, flying from the northwest to 
the southeast, and their appearance was that of a snow storm. Sometimes they 
were so numerous as to darken the sunlight. They settled gradually to the 
ground, when their voracity soon made itself apparent; whole fields of green 
corn being destroyed in a single day. Nothing escaped them; there appeared to 
be nothing they would not eat; at least there was nothing that they did not eat; 
and in their progress they left the country nearly as bare of vegetation as if it 
had been scorched 1^ fire. By the time they reached the Missouri River section, 
vegetation, at least the crops, was too far advanced for them to do material harm, 
but on the frontiers, where they appeared earlier, and where the new settlers' 
dependence was a crop of sod corn, necessarily late and immature, their destruc- 
tion was great and caused much suffering during the following winter. They 
matured sufficiently to begin to deposit their eggs when about fifty miles west of 
Kansas City, and continued until they had advanced to about fifty miles east of 
it. Hence, in the spring of the year 1875, ^ ^^^ crop was hatched to infest the 
country, and they proved no less voracious than their progenitors of the year 
before. A district about a hundred miles wide extending southward from Kansas 
City a hundred miles and northward to the British possessions, was kept as bare 
of vegetation as midwinter until June of 1875, when the young brood suddenly 
took wing and disappeared as mysteriously as their progenitors had appeared, 
going in a northwesterly direction. The effect of all this was to cost the larger 
part of the country united by them the bulk of a year's crop, part of it in the 



160 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

fall of 1874, and part in the spring of 1875. Such disaster could not but affect 
detrimentally the business of Kansas City. 

Early in the winter of 1874-5 it was ascertained that there was great suffer- 
ing among the people of western Kansas from this cause, and organized efforts 
for relief began to be made. The east was appealed to and responded liberally. 
Kansas City organized a local association in January, which collected and for- 
warded such aid as our people could give. 

Disastrous as this calamity was to the people of Kansas and to the trade of 
Kansas City, it had its compensation for Kansas City, in the development it gave 
to her infant grain market. The loss of Kansas crops in the fall of 1874, made 
it necessary for the people of that State to import grain from Iowa and Missouri 
in the spring of 1875. This opened a profitable field for business in Kansas 
City, and enlisted men in the grain trade who probably would not otherwise have 
put money into that line of business. The result was that the men and the 
money to make an excellent little grain market in Kansas City became interested 
in the spring of 1875, and as the crops of Kansas for that year promised more 
than usual abundance by the time this importing trade ceased, they continued in 
it, to handle the exported product in the fall. This circumstance, disastrous as it 
was, put the grain market of Kansas City on its feet, and secured it that definite 
organization which only years of labor could otherwise have attained. 

THE EVENTS OF 1875. 

The year 1875 ^^^^ ^^^ fruitful of new enterprises. With the shadow of the 
panic of 1873 still resting upon trade, and the depression resulting from the grasshop- 
per plague of 1874 and 1875, there was a tendency, on the part of the people, to 
await the revival of times and the growth of new crops. 

A REVISION OF THE CITY CHARTER. 

In the depressed state of affairs resulting from the panic of 1873 to the begin- 
ning of the year 1875, city taxes were collected with difficulty, and it was found 
difficult by the city officers to pay the interest on her bonded debt, small as it 
was, and preserve her credit. The First National Bank and the Mastin Bank 
had tided the city over to this time, by taking and holding its paper ; but the load 
began to be too heavy for them. Accordingly, in January, the officers of those 
two institutions prepared and sent to the Legislature, a draft of amendments to 
the charter, which would provide for a more economical and business like admin- 
istration of city finances. As soon as this bill was introduced into the Legislature 
the people took alarm. There was, at this time, trouble brewing between the 
city and the Water Company, in which the Mastins were interested. The people 
feared some scheme in the proposed bill that would give the Water Company 
the advantage, and hence became very much excited. A copy of the bill was 
sent for, a public meeting was called, and it was examined and condemned. The 
meeting then appointed a committee of thirteen, of which Major William Warner 
was chairman, to prepare a revision of the whole charter. This was done, and 
it was sent to Hon. S. P. Twiss, then representing Kansas City in the Legisla- 
ture, by whom it was introduced into the House of Representatives. This bill, 
after a most memorable contest, in which the dominant party of the State took 
sides against the people of Kansas City, finally became a law, and is our present 
excellent charter. Its definition of city limits and division of the city into wards 
are the same as now exist. Among its other provisions, it forbids the city to cre- 
ate any debt, and will not allow the Council to appropriate, or the Auditor to is- 
sue a warrant for, any money, until the cash is in the treasury, to meet it ; and it 
provided for the debt by setting apart a sufficient part of the revenues of the city 
to pay our interest, and most of the bonds as they mature. 

About the same time this charter was adopted — that is March 27, 1875, — ^^ 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 161 

act was passed by the Legislature creating a metropolitan police for Kansas City, 
which has since prevailed, with Thos. M. Speers as chief. 

THE MINT AND SMELTING WORKS. 

In the spring of 1S75 Dr. Linderman, director of the United States Mints, 
was authorized to locate a branch mint in the Mississippi valley. Kansas City 
at once entered the list with Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and other places as 
competitor for it. Preparations were made to receive and entertain Dr. Linder- 
man on his visit to the west, and a statement of Kansas City's advantages for 
su(^h an establishment were prepared and forwarded to him. He was received 
here in September, and all the information given him that he required. At a 
subsequent period, February 1st, 1876, the Board of Trade sent an offer to the 
Secretary of the Treasury to donate building and grounds for the mint, but still 
it was not secured. 

In connection with this affair it appeared that one of the difficulties in the way 
of Kansas City was her lack of smelting works, for which it was believed her 
ready command of Colorado ores peculiarly adapted her. This caused an effort 
to supply that defect, but it was not successful at that time. 

OTHER EVENTS. 

Besides a protest against the settlement of the Sioux Indians in the Indian 
Territory; some fostering of the Narrow Gauge Railroad to Lexington; some 
efforts to secure alterations in railroad freight tariffs, and a few other matters of 
less consequence, there were no other other public movements during the year. 
The water works were completed and put into operation this year, as was also 
the Washington Street Horse Railroad. This latter was built and is owned 
by Messrs. Thomas and Bernard Corrigan. This is a double track road, and 
extends from Main and Sixth streets along Sixth to Washington street, thence to 
Lykins street, thence to Catherine street, and thence to Seventeenth street. 

In July, 1875, the Kansas Rolling Mills were established at Rosedale, four 
miles from the city. They have since been enlarged, and now do a business of 
about two hundred tons a day, and employ seven hundred men. 

On the 2d of December, the Kansas City Academy of Science was organized 
with a fair membership. The society has continued annually to increase in inter- 
est apd importance. 

THE YEAR 1876. 

The year 1876, like that of 1875, ^^^^ ^^ uneventful year in Kansas City. 
Trade at this time had begun to revive, and merchants were active in their efforts 
to extend their business into new localities in Kansas. and Missouri, Colorado and 
Nebraska. By the middle of the summer, there set in a decided change in the 
situation of affairs. People began again to come to Kansas City in large num- 
bers, as they had done previous to the panic. AH vacant houses were occupied, \ 
and rents began to advance before the close of the year. This was the beginning 
of the era of prosperity which is now upon us. 

THE BOARD OF TRADE. 

An important change took place in the Board of Trade in 1876, which be- 
comes a part of the history of Kansas City The grain market, which by this 
time was considerable, was located, by accident on Union avenue, west of Union 
Depot, and the rooms of the Board of Trade were under the First National Bank 
on the corner of Fifth and Delaware streets. 

In April, 1876, the members of the board engaged in the grain business, 
complained of the inconvenience of attending its*daily meetings at the room un- 
der the First National Bank, where it had been since 1872, and proposed that it 
11 




TRUMBULL, REYNOLDS & ALLEN'S WHOLESALE HOUSE. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 163 

remove to the western part of the city where they were located. Other members 
proposed that they should remove their offices to the upper part of the city, which 
they expressed a willingness to do, but office rooms could not be had to accom- 
modate them. To remedy this deficiency Dr. Edward Dunscomb proposed that 
an effort should be made to erect a suitable exchange building containing offices for 
them. This was assented to, and a committee of thirteen was appointed to devise 
ways and means, of which Dr. Dunscomb was chairman. This committee finally 
reported in favor of incorporating and re-organizing the board making member- 
ships permanent and transferable, and fixing them at $ioo each. The money 
thus raised was to be appropriated to the erection of a building, any balance that 
might be needed to be borrowed on a mortgage on the property. The plan was 
adopted, the board incorporated and re-organized May 9th, and ground for the 
building purchased. 

Previous to this there had been no membership fee, but only an annual as- 
sessment of ten and twenty dollars, according to the class of business in which 
members were engaged. Under this arrangment the board never attained a 
membership of over one hundred and eight, but under the new, it speedily 
attained a membership of two hundred and eleven. The ground selected for an 
exchange building was on the corner of Fifth and Delaware streets and cost $15,- 
700. Ten thousand dollars was borrowed of citizens of Kansas City, on second 
mortgage bonds, during the summer, and the erection of the building began in 
September. It was not completed, however, until the ist of October, 1877, and 
cost about $47,000. The grain market was moved to it in July, 1877, and has 
since occupied it. 

THE MARKETS AND PACKING BUSINESS. 

Contemporaneous with the events narrated in the last three chapters, were 
a series of active events relating to the development here of the live-stock and 
grain markets, and of the packing business, which will be given in the next chap- 
ter. Their history will also be sketched through to the present time, thus antic- 
ipating somewhat the events to be narrated in the chapter following. 

CITY ADDITIONS. 

For reasons already stated, there was not much local growth of the city dur- 
ing the years from 1872 to 1877, and but few additions were platted. The follow- 
ing is the list : 

May 26, '73 — A. Kelly's Sub-division. 

July 9, '73 — Fancher and Day's Sub division. 

July 31, '73 — Kyle's Sub-division. 

September 25, '73 — Daniel O'Flaherty's Sub-division. 

February 12, '74 — Cumming's Sub-division. 

February 17, '74 — E. H. Websters' Sub-division. 

June II, '74 — Dr. Hovey's Sub-division. 

May 3, '75 — Tracy's Addition. 

January 7, '76 — Coates & Hopkins' Addition. 

April 10, '76 — Coates & Hopkins' Second Addition. 



164 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
THE MARKETS AND PACKING HOUSES. 

History of the Texas Cattle Trade — Its Final Concentration at Kansas City — The Growth of the 
Alarket and Character of the Present Supply — The History of the Packing Business — Why it 
Came to Kansas City — Its Statistics — The Grain Market, When and How It Started — Its 
Development and Circumstances Attending It — Its Present Facilities and Magnitude. 

When Cortez overran Mexico in the sixteenth century, he introduced into 
this new Spanish possession the long-horned cattle of Spain, and they became the 
cattle of the Spanish possession to the exclusion of all others, and continue to 
this day to hold undisputed possession, although the control of the country has 
long since passed from Spain to the republics of Mexico and the United States. 
These cattle thrive best on the plains of western and southern Texas, though 
they prosper in New Mexico, and, it has been found since their settlement, in 
Colorado and Kansas also. Old Mexico has not had a surplus of them during 
this century, because of the disturbed condition of society which makes all prop- 
erty insecure, and the natural triflingness of the people who prefer pillaging each 
other to honest industry. The plains of western and southern Texas became 
their great pasture ground after that State was annexed to the United States, and 
orderly government gave protection to property. 

THE FIRST NORTHWARD DRIVE. 

These plains soon became the source of beef supply for the southern States, 
and largely of Mexico also ; but the production was in a more rapid ratio than 
the growth of the demand, and as early as 1857 the stock growers of that State 
began to look for other markets. The first attempt to drive them to the north on 
record was in 1857, when about 20,000 head, with some horses and mules, were 
driven to Missouri, passing through Kansas City and crossing the river at Ran- 
dolph Ferry, three miles below town, in June of that year. This is reported to 
have been an unfortunate venture, except so far as the mules were concerned, 
which were sold at remunerative prices. There was at that time great demand 
at Kansas City for oxen and mules for the Santa Fe trade, and in 1858 larger 
numbers of cattle and mules were driven hither from Texas, and such cattle as 
were suitable were sold to the freighters for oxen. Many others were sold as 
stock cattle to immigrants to California, Utah and Oregon. In 1859 and i860 
the business was continued, and the droves were larger, and during these two 
years attempts were made to get fat cattle suitable for beeves through to Chicago, 
but with what success is not recorded. The breaking out of the war in 1861 
stopped the rapidly growing trade. 

During the war the market for Texas cattle became exceedingly restricted. 
In the earlier years of the struggle the southern States and Confederate armies 
made a fair demand for them, but this was practically cut off by the occupation 
of the Mississippi River by Federal troops in 1863. Cattle could, after that 
event, be got to the southern States and Confederate armies only by running the 
blockade of the Mississippi, which was attend with such hazard that the business 
was not profitable and hardly possible. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE DRIVE NORTHWARD. 

Owing to these causes, and the continued rapid increase of cattle in Texas, 
that State was utterly overrun with them at the close of the war, and there was 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 165 

no market for them. The southern people were not in a condition to buy and 
Mexico needed but a small part of the annual increase. It is said that cattle 
men then almost wholly neglected their herds, and a prevalent mode of estimat- 
ing a man's poverty was by the number of cattle he owned — the more the worse. 
Cattle that could be bought for from three to six dollars per head, were worth ten 
times that amount in the northwest. This fact soon becoming known, the drovers 
began to prepare in 1865 and 1866 to drive to the north, and the movement be- 
gan in 1866. The exact number of cattle that crossed Red River that year for 
the north is not known, but it has been generally estimated at 260,000 head. 
These herds passed through the Indian Territory, and attempted to enter south- 
western Missouri in the general direction of Sedalia and other points on the 
Missouri Pacific Railroad in Central Missouri. The story that these cattle spread 
the fearfully fatal Spanish fever among the native cattle of the north, and that 
contact with them was certain destruction to natives, led to the most determined 
resistance to their entrance into the settled parts of Missouri and Kansas. This 
resistance afforded an excellent opportunity to lawless characters to pillage the 
drovers, and beside the farmers who honestly opposed them from good but mis- 
taken motives, there were mobs organized by men who had no property to be 
injured and for the sole purpose of robbery. These mobs attacked the drovers 
and lynched many of them, managing meantime to stampede their cattle, after 
which it was easy to steal large numbers of them. But few of the herds of 1867 
got through to shipping points, while many were turned back, so that the new 
field of inviting profit and speedy fortune was realized only as a field of wrong, 
abuse and ruin. 

OPENING A PLACE OF RENDEZVOUS. 

The attempt and the struggle, however, widely advertised the quality and 
cheapness of Texas cattle, and hence attracted much attention throughout the 
north and northwest. They became as determined to have the cattle as the 
Texas drovers were that they should have them, or the farmers of Kansas and 
Missouri that they should not be driven through these States. The next point 
then was to find a point to which Texas cattle could be driven where northern 
dealers could buy them, and where there were adequate shipping facilities. 

In the study of this problem it occurred to Mr. Joseph G. McCoy, now of 
this city, but then a cattle dealer in Illinois, that a common point might be found 
somewhere in western Kansas or the Indian territory outside of the settlements, 
or somewhere on the southern rivers, from whence cattle could be shipped by 
boat. Before he had fairly decided in his own mind which would be best, he 
had occasion to visit Kansas City. Here he met some parties who were interested 
in Texas cattle, and talked over the project to them, and with their encouragement 
he went up the Kansas Pacific road to look at the country. Impressed with the 
favorableness of the situation he returned, and, in an interview with the officers 
of the Kansas Pacific, they told him that they thought it might pay; that they 
would encourage it, but were not sufficiently sanguine of its success to put money 
into it. He got an understanding, however, that if he would erect shipping yards 
at his own expense, they would arrange with him so that he should have shipping 
facilities and a fair share of profits. With this understanding he went to St. Louis 
to ascertain from the Missouri Pacific what rates of freight would be given from 
Kansas City to that place. He went beforenhe president of that road and^ex- 
plained the scheme, when the president remarked that it occurred to him that he 
(Mr. McCoy) had no cattle to ship, and he had no assurance that he ever would 
have. Very soon afterward Mr. McCoy made an agreement about rates with 
the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. 



166 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

THE MARKET AT ABILENE. 

He then closed up his business in Illinois and went to Abilene, Kansas, 
where he built the necessary stock yards and a hotel for the accommodation of 
drovers, and by the time the herds of 1867 began to reach Kansas, he was ready 
for them, and that year received into the yards about 35,000 head. As the 
place was wholly unknown as a cattle market, Mr. McCoy and his associates in 
the yards were about the cnly buyers. They bought and shipped to Chicago 
about 3,000 head; of the balance, a large number were shipped through in first 
hands and packed in Chicago on the owner's account, but many were driven 
further north. The first shipment from Abilene was on the 5th of September, 
1867, and consisted of twenty car loads. The shipments from Abilene that year 
reached about one thousand car loads, all of which went to Chicago by the Han- 
nibal & St. Joseph Railroad, except seventeen car loads which went to St. Louis 
by the Missouri Pacific. The railroad bridge at Kansas City was not then fin- 
ished, and the proprietors of the Abilene yards, thinking Leavenworth a more 
eligible place for crossing the river than Kansas City, built the necessary feeding 
and transfer yards at that point, and shipped their cattle by that place. Leaven- 
worth, however, took no interest in the movement and offered it no advantages, 
besides which it was found that the advantages for forwarding cattle were much 
inferior to those at Kansas City. Hence, the next year, 1868, they transferred 
their trans shipping business to Kansas City. 

THE MOVEMENT IN 1 868. 

Owing to various causes the operations of the year 1867 were not satisfactory 
to the drovers, chief among which was their failure to meet buyers at Abilene or 
elsewhere in Kansas. The proprietors of the yards, comprehending the situa- 
tion, spent about five thousand dollars in the winter of 1867-8 in advertising 
Abilene as a cattle market, both in Texas and northwest, assuring the one that 
buyers would be there in 1868, and the other that many cheap cattle would be 
offered there. This had the desired effect, and that year there were an abund- 
ance of buyers, and the number of cattle arriving there was fully seventy-five 
thousand head. Fortunes were made this year, and the Texas drovers were en- 
couraged to make larger drives the next year. 

Many of the cattle bought at Abilene in 1868 were shipped immediately into 
the feeding districts of Illinois and other western States, and soon spread the 
Spanish fever over the country. Its destructive effects were such as to call forth 
hostile legislation in most of the western States. It was much investigated and 
at last ascertained that there is no danger of it after frost; hence after that year 
it became the practice to hold the cattle on the plains, where they thrive and fat- 
ten until after frost. Such as were bought for packing or for beef were, however, 
shipped when needed, as they did not go into feeding districts, or come in con- 
tact with native cattle, and hence were not liable to spread disease. 

NEW YARDS AT KANSAS CITY GLORY AND DESTRUCTION OF ABILENE. 

In 1869 not less than one hundred and fifty thousand cattle were received at 
Abilene, while many more went further north, some to feed Indians, some to 
government posts and to Utah and Montana, while many found their way to 
market by the way of the Union Pacific Railroad. This year success attended 
the drovers, and in 1870 they drove not less than three hundred thousand head. 
The yard facilities at Kansas City having been found inadequate, in 1869 the 
North Missouri, Hannibal and St. Joseph, and Missouri Pacific Railroads all 
built yards of their own. 

That was the year of Abilene's glory, and her great prosperity attracted the 
attention of other towns and raised up a host of rivals. The next year the 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 167 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road induced some parties to build yards at New- 
ton, when that place and other points along the line of the Kansas Pacific began 
to compete successfully with Abilene. There already existed a strong feeling 
against the trade among the farmers in the country adjacent to Abilene, and 
catering to that sentiment the representatives of the country in the Kansas Legis- 
lature procured the enactment of a law at the session of 187 1 that drove the trade 
from Abilene. 

With the completion of the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf, and Leaven- 
worth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroads to the southern line of the State of Kansas 
in 1870, both began to compete for the trade, the unsettled country over the line 
in the Indian Territory affording ample pasturage and feeding grounds. For two 
or three years these roads secured a liberal share of the trade, and would have 
been preferred because of the shortness of their lines to Kansas City, but for the 
fact that the Indians levied a tax upon the herding of cattle or the driving of them 
through their country that made it unprofitable to drivers and supressed the trade. 

Meanwhile, the receiving and forwarding of cattle began to be divided 
between Ellsworth, on the Kansas Pacific, and Wichita, on the Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe, and so continued for several years, and until cattle fresh from Texas 
ceased to be forwarded into the Northwest. For two or three years the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe attempted to take all cattle it received by the way of Atchi- 
son to Chicago, but the lack of adequate yards and bridge facilities were found to 
be an insuperable barrier, and in 1873 it turned over its cattle to the Missouri 
Pacific at Atchison for shipment to Kansas City, and the next year effected 
arrangements for delivering them here itself. 

ORIGIN OF THE KANSAS CITY .MARKET. 

In 1868, 1869 and 1870 Kansas City was merely a re-shipping and feeding 
point, and this was done in the yards belonging to the railroad companies Four 
packing-houses were that year operating here, but packers had to send to the 
prairies for most of their cattle and send to the adjacent country for their hogs. 
This was out of their line of business, and made a demand for the employment of 
another class of men, who should attend to that part of the business and furnish 
the stock. 

Again, the large number of cattle passing through the railroad yards at 
Kansas City required better attention than could be given them by railroad em- 
ployees or the shippers themselves accompanying the stock in transit. There was 
a need of commission men located here, to whom the stock could be consigned, 
and who would take care of it. 

There was a great need, also, of better yard regulations. A single yard 
under one management, where feed and water were provided and which should 
be used alike by all the railroads was much needed. 

These facts led to the formation of a joint stock company in 1871, and the 
construction in time to receive the shipments of that year, of the Kansas Stock 
Yards. When these yards went into operation, June i, 1871, Jerome D. Smith 
was elected superintendent. It soon became evident that with this additional 
convenience men were going into the live stock commission business here, and 
hence a building was erected to furnish offices for them. When the season 
opened there were several commission firms ready to begin operations. William 
A. Rogers was one of the first to engage in business at the Kansas yards. 

This was the beginning of the live stock market in our city. Packers finding 
that they could supply themselves here ceased to go to the prairies for their stock. 
Feeders and others purchasers from the northwestern States had always regarded 
it as a great hardship to have to go to the frontiers of Kansas to buy their stock, 
and they, too, welcomed the new market with pleasure, and began at once to 
give it their patronage. The packing demand for hogs led the comniission men 



168 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

to make an effort to attract that class of stock to the market, and they were soon 
in control of the crop of Kansas and western Missouri. Sheep came as a matter 
of course, and by the close of 187 1 this city had an established live stock market. 

The development of the market from that time has been rapid. All the re- 
ceipts of cattle in 187 1 were Texas cattle, and probably not more than one-third 
of them were sold here, the other two-thirds going forward in first hands. By 
1872 the number sold here was nearly equal to the whole receipts, and in 1873 
cattle ceased to go forward in first hands. From that time the Kansas City 
market controlled the Texas cattle, and has been steadily better than any oher 
market, as is shown by the fact that no man escaped loss who attempted the 
business of buying here for sale in other markets. Money has been made, how- 
ever, in buying and shipping into the feeding districts on orders. 

The market for hogs grew as rapidly as for cattle, and as early as 1873 this market 
controlled the product, not only of Kansas and all the country west and south, 
but the adjacent parts of Missouri half way to Quincy, and northward into south- 
western Iowa. For all this country and southern Nebraska, this city has been 
found to be a better market than any other. Packers have taken all suitable 
offerings, while the country adjacent and west of this city has demanded all stock 
hogs that could be had. Receipts steadily increased until in 1874, when the 
short crop incident to the destruction of the corn crops that year cut down the 
supply. 

In 1872 native and wintered Texas cattle began to come into the market and 
since that time the proportion of natives has increased until the larger part of 
the receipts are of that class. Texas cattle driven to Colorado have stocked up 
that young State, and for the past few years Colorado cattle have become almost 
as prominent a feature of the market as those from Texas. 

The following statement of the number of cattle driven from Texas is as 
nearly accurate as can be made. Since 1872 it is nearly exact : 

1866 260,000 

1867 35.000 

1868 75,000 

1869 350,000 

1870 300,000 

187 1 600,000 

1872 350,000 

1873 400,000 

1874 166,000 

1875 151,618 

1876 321,998 

1877 201,159 

1878 265,646 

1S79 257,927 

1880 394,784 

The following table shows the receipts of different kinds of stock into the 
Kansas City market. Receipts prior to 187 1 were bought in the country and 
shipped here fOr packing and for beef : 

Year. Cattle. Hogs. Sheep. 

1868 4,200 13,000 

1869 4 450 23,000 

1870 21,000 36,000 

1871 120,827 . 41,036 4,527 

1872 236,802 104,639 6,071 

1873 227,669 220,956 5,975 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 169 

Year. Cattle. Hogs. Sheep. 

1874 • 207,069 112,532 8,875 

1875 181,114 59>4i3 24,987 

1876 183,378 153,777 55,045 

1877 215,768 192,645 42,190 

1878 175,344 427,777 36,700 

1879 211,415 588,908 61,684 

1880 244,709 676,477 50,611 

The tendency to drive Texas cattle to the plains of Kansas, Colorado, Ne- 
braska and New Mexico to winter, and to bring them to this market during years 
subsequent to their removal from Texas, began about 1876, and has continued 
until few fresh Texas cattle come into this market. At the same time there 
began to be a large increase in the proportion of native cattle brought into the 
market, until now nearly all receipts are of that class, the wintered Texas cattle 
being absorbed in the western States and Territories, and by the army and Indian 
contractors. 

A PROMOTER OF THE MARKETS. 

As much is due to Howard M. Holden, of the First National Bank, as to any 
other individual, for the development of the stock market. As early as 1868 he 
perceived the advantage of such an institution, and, together with C. J. White, 
Colonel Bucklin and others, organized a live stock and drovers' association, to 
help the cattle men open the way to the city. The association accomplished bu> 
little, but Mr. Holden was always the friend of the cattle men, and by his 
liberal treatment soon taught them where to look for financial aid. He made 
something of a specialty of the commission trade from 1871 down, and was al- 
ways ready to help the commission merchants. His liberal hand similarly favor- 
ed the packing interest, and subsequently the grain market, and greatly stim- 
ulated the development of these interests. Other banks were also liberal, and 
the Mastin Bank early became an active friend of the cattle men and packers. 

THE PACKING BUSINESS. 

As the events of 1867 demonstrated that a supply of cattle would thereafter 
be found on the western prairies, packers were attracted to the frontier. The first 
attempt at packing was at Junction City in 1867, by Edward W. Pattison, for- 
merly of Indianapolis. He formed a company at Junction City, and in 1867 
packed about one thousand cattle. The. acquaintance with the country thus ac- 
quired satisfied him that Kansas City, possessing as she did the largest commer- 
cial facilities near the frontier, offered the best advantages for that business. 
Hence, in 1868, in company with J. W. L. Slavens, he built the first beef pack- 
ing house here — the stone house now occupied by Jacob Dold & Son. And that 
year they bought on the prairies and packed about 4,209 cattle. This was the 
first beef packing done in this city. 

The same year Thos. J. Bigger, formerly of Belfast, Ireland, came here and 
went into the business of packing hogs for the Irish and English markets. This 
was the first hog packing done in the city after the war. Previous to the war, 
about 1858, M. Diveley and some others had packed a few hogs, and in 1859, J. 
L. Mitchener, now of the Kansas City stock market, came here, backed by Chi- 
cago capital, and opened a packing house on the east levee, but his business was 
stopped by the war. In 1868 Mr. Bigger built a small stone house on St. Louis 
avenue, West Kansas City, where he packed away his meats, the slaughtering 
being done for him by Messrs. Pattison and Slavens. 

In the spring of 1869, Mr. Slavens disposed of his interest in the packing 
house of Pattison & Slavens to Dr. F. B. Nofsinger, who had just come here 
from Indianapolis, and formed the co-partnership known as Furgason, Slavens & 



170 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Co., by which was built that year the large brick packing house now occupied by 
Slavens & Oburn, thus adding the third packing house. 

The next year, 1870, Mr. Bigger built the house he afterward occupied, near 
the mouth of Kaw River, and Messrs. Plankinton & Armours came and rented 
the house of Pattison & Nofsinger, in which they operated that year, and built 
their own house. 

This gave Kansas City her present four packing houses, which, with 
frequent additions, have kept pace with the growth of the city and the packing 
interest. Messrs. Plankinton & Armours had already two large houses, one in 
Milwaukee, and one in Chicago, but were impressed with the advantage 
of packing Texas cattle nearer the source of supply, had, after investigation, 
become satisfied that this city was the best point. It was so situated that 
the cattle, as driven to the plains of Kansas annually, would be available, and 
possessed a much better climate or the purpose, while, as already an assured 
railway center, it offered all n .essary transportation facilities. S. B. Armour, 
the head of the house here, wao not at the time connected with the firm, but was 
living on a farm in New York. His brothers induced him to come to this city, 
take an interest in the business, and conduct the house here. 

Thus our city became a packing point, by 1870, before it was yet a stock 
market. 

The next year, 187 1, the creation here of a cattle and hog market greatly 
facilitated packing, and by 1872 Kansas City had attained great importance as a 
packing point. In 1874 she was the principal source of supply for packed beef, 
and since that time has attained nearly a monopoly of the trade. 

Hog packing did not prosper equally for the sole reason that hogs could 
not be had, the packing capacity of the city being in excess of the supply. 

The following table shows the packing done here since the war : 

HOGS. CATTLE. 

1868-69 i3)Ooo 1868 4,200 

1869-70 23,000 1869 4,450 

1870-71 36,000 1870 21,000 

1871-72 83,000 1871 45'543 

1872-73 180,000 1872 20,500 

1873-74 175.000 1873 26,549 

1874-75 70,300 1874 42,226 

1875-76 72,500 1875 25,774 

1876-77 114,869 1876 26,765 

1877 180,357 1877 27,863 

1878 349,097 1878 18,756 

1879 366,830 1879 29,141 

1880 . . , 539,097 1880 30,922 

During the summer of 1878, Messrs. Fowler Bros., large packers in Chicago, 
observing that the supply of hogs had now become sufficient at Kansas City to 
make it a large packing point, determined to establish a branch house here. 
They came for that purpose, but found that in addition to the excellent facilities 
offered by the large stock market and excellent transportation facilities, Kansas 
City was not disposed to offer much inducements. That is, Kansas City feeling 
that she possessed advantages for that kind of business unequaled elsewhere in 
the Missouri Valley, was not disposed to offer any inducements in addition there- 
to. The City of Atchison, however, was; and offered such inducements in the 
way of land, etc., as to tempt the Messrs. Fowlers to locate there. That fall 
they built a large packing house at Winthrop, on the opposite side of the river 
and went into the business of packing hogs. It was soon 'found, however, that 
they could not conduct the business successfully in the absence of a hog market ; 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 171 

and they and others addressed themselves to efforts to develop one at Atchison. 
The effort was futile, however, the market at Kansas City continued to attract 
the shipments, and for two years Messrs. Fowlers continued the business there, 
buying a large part of the hogs in the Kansas City market. It was found, also, 
that for a large part of their trade in meats their product had to be shipped to 
Kansas City for distribution. Competition with Kansas City packers, under such 
circumstances was, of course, unprofitable, and hence in the spring of 1880 they 
came to Kansas City, secured a large tract of ground near the junction of the 
Kaw and Missouri Rivers, and built there one of the largest and best appointed 
packing houses in the west. 

In the summer of 1880 Messrs. Dold & Son, of Buffalo, New York, came 
to Kansas City and bought the packing house of Nofsinger & Co., who had not 
been operating it very extensively for several years. They opened business with 
the opening of the season 1880-1, and are now proposing to build a much lar- 
ger house. 

Mr. Bigger having gone out of the packing business several years age, the 
houses now operating here are Plankinton & Armours, Slavens and Oburn, Fow- 
ler Bros., and Jacob Dold & Son. Of these houses Plankinton & Armours and 
Slavens & Oburn still pack a considerable amount of beef. It is mostly put up 
in cans, however, rather than in tierces and barrels as was formerly the custom. 
The houses all do a large business in packing pork and most of them continue 
the business through the summer. 

THE GRAIN MARKET. 

From the earliest dates to 1870, Kansas City imported flour from eastern 
Missouri and Illinois. This country had become self sustaining, so far as this 
part of Missouri was concerned, before the war, but the great demand by immi- 
grants to Kansas, and the trade with New Mexico and Colorado, made a demand 
that local production could not supply. By the time Kansas became a State, she 
was producing large amounts of grain, but the immigration took all surpluses. 
Between the close of the war and 1870, the same conditions existed, though the 
production of the country had immensely increased. By 1870, however, pro- 
duction began to exceed the local demand, and that year the railroads took 
small amounts of grain to the eastern markets. Perceiving this fact, the people, 
in the latter part of 1870 and the early part of 187 1, began to agitate the estab- 
lishment of a grain market. The spring of the year 1871 gave promises of a 
good yield of all kinds of grain ; and the press opened on the subject again. Its 
agitation caused the Board of Trade to take it up and discuss it. 

THE FIRST ELEVATOR THE INFANT MARKET. 

The result was that in July, 187 1, Messrs. Latshaw & Quade began the 
erection of an elevator of about one hundred thousand bushels storage capacity. 
This was situated on nearly the same ground as is now the Union Elevator. It 
was finished and open for business in December. But there were no grain dealers 
to use it, and Messrs. Latshaw & Quade went into the business themselves, and 
were the first men to conduct a grain business in this city as a strictly commercial 
pursuit. Messrs. Branharn & Sons owned and operated a corn mill on Fourth 
street, near Broadway, and Messrs. Dewar & Smith owned and operated the 
Diamond mills. These gentlemen were buying grain in the country and shipping 
it to their mills. Soon after the construction of the elevator they began to do 
something more than this, and shipped some grain to the east. In 1S71 Messrs. 
Price & Doane took a large house on Santa Fe street and Union avenue, and 
opened a grain business, but for a long time their business was largely of a 
retail character. Messrs. Latshaw & Quade, however, were the principal dealers 
until the close of 1873, ^^""^ by that time had built up a considerable order trade 



172 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

in the east and south. Their business was, however, summarily closed in Decern 
ber, 1873, by the burning of their elevator. 

TWO MORE ELEVATORS. 

By the close of 1873, the extent of the grain business had become such as to 
attract others, and the next spring Messrs. Vanghan & Co. and Gillespie, Reed 
& Co. went into business. Messrs. Vaughan & Co. undertook the building of 
Elevator "A," and a stock company, of which A. J. GiUispie became president, 
commenced the erection of the Kansas City elevator. Both of these were begun 
in the spring of 1874, and finished in time for the movement of the wheat crop 
of that year, and had a storage capacity of about 200,000 bushels each. 

Messrs. Branham & Sons had the fall previous built the Advance mills, in 
connection with which they provided a storage capacity for about 20,000 bushels 
and all necessary elevator appar .us. From the time of the burning of the ele- 
vator of Messrs. Latshaw &: Quade until the erection of the Kansas City and 
"A," this was the only facility, and was much used. In the latter part of the 
year 1876, it was purchased by Col. E. Lynde and converted into an elevator 
with about 40,000 bushels storage capacity. It was then made regular by the 
Board of Trade, and has since continued as the Advance Elevator. 

\ THE MOVEMENT OF 1874 AND 1875. 

The prospect for 1874 was excellent until in August when the Rocky Moun- 
tain Locusts came down upon Kansas and cut short the corn crop. For a time 
the outlook was very discouraging but it soon became evident that owing to the 
shortness of the supply in Kansas, corn w^ould have to be shipped into that State. 
The Kansas City grain men seized the situation with their characteristic enter- 
prise and began the purchase of corn in Iowa and northern Missouri for Kansas. 
This afforded them such an excellent business that numbers of others engaged in 
it and brought a large amount of capital into the trade. The grain movement 
that year was the largest that had yet been known in Kansas City, but in the 
contrary direction from what was expected. The movement of wheat, rye and 
barley that year was to the eastward, but that of corn and oats was to the west- 
ward. 

By the time the westward movement of corn ceased in 1875 the eastward 
movement of wheat had began. 

Our commission men in anticipation of the movement had opened business 
correspondence with millers and dealers throughout the Middle and Western 
States, and obtained their orders. When the market opened the existing through 
rates of freight enabled them to fill their orders at from three to five cents less 
than the same grades could be supplied from St. Louis, and at the same time 
pay the country shipper from three to five cents more than they could realize by 
sending their wheat to St. Louis. St. Louis had formerly been the only western 
market for winter wheat, and beside this city is still the only market near enough 
for small shippers in the Missouri Valley. This situation was greatly stimulating 
to the Kansas City market, and allured many other men into the business, and 
brought her a number of Chicago, Baltimore and New York buyers. 

OTHER ELEVATORS. 

The extent to which the market had grown rendered more elevator capacity 
a necessity, and in the fall of 1875 a new company was formed, and the erection 
of the Union Elevator begun. It has a storage capacity of about 500,000 
bushels, and went into operation in February, 1876. The movement of corn 
during the winter and spring of 1876, proved that even with this additional 
facility there was still not enough, hence during the summer another company 
was formed, and the Arkansas Valley Elevator was built. It was finished and 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



173 



went into operation on tlie 2d of June, 1877. In the fall of 1877 Elevator " B " 
was built in the Hannibal & St. Joseph freight yards. It had a storage capacity 
of 250,000 bushels, and went into operation March 19, 1878, but it was faulty in 
its foundations and fell down, December 7th, 1878. 

The Alton Elevator was built near the line of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, 
in the northeastern part of the city, in the summer and fall of 1879. It went 
into operation November 2 2d, 1879, and has a storage capacity of one hundred 
and seventy-five thousand bushels. 

The Novelty Elevator was first built as a small transfer house, in the summer of 
1876, but was subsequently enlarged to a storage capacity of about twenty thou- 
sand bushels, and so continued until the fall of 1879, when it was increased to a 
storage capacity of two hundred and twenty-five thousand bushels, and became 
regular on the 28th day of June, 1880, The State Line Elevator was built as a 
small elevator, having a storage capacity of about twenty thousand bushels, in 1877 
and so continued until 1879, when it was enlarged to a storage capacity of one 
hundred thousand bushels, and was made regular on the ist day of March, 1880. 

THE GRAIN CALL. 

The call of grain, which is now one of the features of the Board of Trade, 
was established in June, 1876. At that time the grain merchants were concen- 
trated about the corner of Union avenue and Santa Fe street, and finding it in- 
convenient to attend the daily meetings of the Board of Trade at the rooms 
under the First National Bank on the corner of Delaware and Fifth streets, they 
organized themselves into a Call Board, subject to the rules and regulations of 
the Board of Trade, and elected Maj. W. A. M. Vaughan, moderator, to conduct 
the call. In November this call was formally recognized by the Board of Di- 
rectors of the Board of Trade, and rules for its government were established. 
Maj. Vaughan continued to make the call until July, 1877, when that duty was 
devolved upon the secretary of the Board of Trade. 

The following statistics of the grain trade will be found interesting. 

STORAGE AND TRANSFER CAPACITY OF REGULAR ELEVATORS AT 

KANSAS CITY. 



NAME. 



Union .... 

Arkansas Valley 

"A" 

Advance . . . 
Alton. . . . . 
State Line . . . 
Novelty. . . . 

Total . . . 



Storage. 



Bushels. 



400,000 
425,000 
175,000 
60,000 
175,000 
100,000 
225,000 



1,560,000 



Daily 
Transfer 
Capacity. 



Bushels. 



100,000 
125,000 
30,000 
15,000 
250,000 
30,000 
40,000 



590,000 



174 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



TOTAL GRAIN RECEIPTS AT KANSAS CITY PER ANNUM FROM THE FIRST 

OF THE MARKET, 



DATE. 



1871 
1872 

1873 
1874 

1875 

1876 

1877, 

1878, 

1879 

1880 



Wheat. 



687,000 

289,726 

750,400 

371,273 

1,256,337 

1,820,297 

2,259,572 

9,014,291 

6,417,952 
4,093,528, 



Corn. 



350,000 
601,864 
836,300 
711,367 
1,258,700 

5,769,395 
5,881,703 

4,911,529 
4,121,904 
4,421,760 



Oats. 



93,695 
105,200 

210,475 
382,850 
117,241 
180,657 
155,089 
276,775 
366,486 



Rye. 



12,921 

10,500 
3,400 

40,000 
396,612 
329,887 
352,262 
184,046 

65,267 



Barley. 



3,087 

12,380 

37,450 

15,100 

109,045 

203,341 

163,257 

92,591 
82,894 



The Kansas City Elevator having become inoperative and having ceased to 
do business on the 29th of May, 1880, it is dropped from the above table of 
storage capacity. 

THE PRODUCE AND FLOUR MARKETS. 

Produce from the country began to be handled in Kansas City in a small 
way prior to the war, but first took the form of a commission business soon after 
that struggle. A. L. Charles, A. S. Haines and R. C. Crowell & Co., were 
among the first merchants to engage in it. And Kansas City is now a large 
market for this cjass of articles. 

The handling of flour grew up about the same time, in the same way and 
was conducted by about the same men. An effort was made in July, 1880, to 
organize this trade and put it on 'change. To that end the Board of Trade 
adopted rules for its government; appointed G. W. Elliot, inspector, and 
provided sample tables. It has not yet succeeded however in effecting its object. 

THE COAL MARKET. 

With the competition of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad to the city in 
1867, of the North Missouri (now Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific), and of the 
Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf to Fort Scott in 1869, they began to bring coal 
to Kansas City from the mines adjacent to their respective lines. The trade in 
coal had however begun before this, probably about 1868. Geo. W. McLean, 
since grain inspector, and A. S. IngersoU, now a grain merchant, were the first 
to engage in it. They got their coal at Lexington, Mo., shipped it to Kansas 
City in sacks, by steamboat, and sold it at forty-five cents per bushel. These 
gentlemen were soon followed by Pat Casey, T. McKinley, J. A. Bovard and 
others. 

The first record preserved of receipts was for the year 1870, during which 
the Fort Scott road is recorded as having brought to Kansas City 18,000 bushels, 
but the Hannibal & St. Joseph and North Missouri brought coal to the city at the 
same time, the amount of which cannot now be ascertained. The market grew 
rapidly from the first, and by 1872 Kansas City was receiving and distributing 
over two million bushels. At this early date all the upper river towns and cities 
as far north as Omaha were largely supplied from here, as well as accessible parts 
of Kansas and Nebraska. The railroads in these States and western Iowa were 
also supplied from here, and have continued to be since. 

The following table shows the receipts of coal into this market each year 
from 1870 to 1880 inclusive, as near as can now be ascertained. It must be 
remembered, however, that these figures for years prior to 1877 are not exact, there 
having been no report of the coal brought here by the Hannibal & St. Joseph 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



175 



Railroad prior to that time and no report of that received here from the North 
Missouri for 1876. For 1877 and subsequent years the figures are taken from 
the Board of Trade reports, which are nearly exact. 

Years. * Bushels. 

1870 18,000 

1871 1,408,760 

1872 2,722,750 

1873 2,755,500 

1874 2,799,000 

1875 3.226,500 

1876 2,788,000 * 

1877 3,107,050 

1878 4,621,725 

1879 5,307,000 

1880 5,772,405 

* No report for the North Missouri road. 




176 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

CHAPTER XV. . 
THE PROGRESS OF THREE YEARS. 

The Events 0/1877 — '^^^^ Alton Road — The Union Depot — The Test of Barges on the Missouri 
— The Great Railivay Strike — Bank Suspensions — Railway Extensions Affecting Kansas 
City — The United States Court House and Post- Off ce, and United States Courts — Rapid 
Growth of the City. 

It was mentioned at the close of the last chapter that Kansas City began to 
revive from the effects of the panic of 1873, about the middle of the year 1876, 
and that population began again to come in and fill up the vacant houses, and 
revive the general tone of business. This revival was not local only, but general, 
and the whole country shared in it. In the west, especially, there was marked 
improvement, and not Kansas City only, but the whole west, entered upon a 
new era of prosperity and development, which, happily, has not yet received any 
serious check. 

THE EVENTS OF 1 87 7. 

One of the first institutions to take advantage of the revival of times, to ad- 
vance its interests, was the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, which, as pre- 
viously noted, had extended its line to Mexico, Missouri, on the old Louisiana 
charter, and for some years had been making its connections to Kansas City 
from that place over the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern. On the 27th of 
February, 1877, T. B. Blackstone, President, J. J. Mitchell, Vice-President, and 
J. D. McMulUn, General Superintendent, of that road, came to Kansas City, to 
confer with the people here, relative to extending that road along the route origi- 
nally proposed for the Louisiana road to Kansas City. After such conference, 
they returned by the way of Glasgow, accompanied from this city by General 
John W. Reid, who had always taken an active interest in this line of road. 
During the spring and summer the sense of the people along the route was taken 
at a series of public meetings, and in the fall a new company was organized, 
called the Chicago, St. Louis & Kansas City Railroad Company, for the purpose 
of building the road. Mr. Mitchell was president of this company, and most of 
its members and stockholders were Chicago & Alton men. In October Mr. 
Mitchell submitted to Jackson county and other counties along the line, proposi- 
tions for aid to the road. Of Jackson county, he required fifty thousand dollars 
in subscriptions to the stock of the company, and procurement of the right of 
way through the county. This was submitted to a meeting of the people, and 
referred to a committee, of which General Reid was a leading member, to raise 
the subscriptions, and it was soon accomphshed. A like result having attended 
the effort in other counties, the construction of the road was an assured fact be- 
fore the close of the year. 

The establishment of barge transportation on the Missouri River was again 
taken up, March loth, at a meeting of grain merchants, and referred to a com- 
mittee consisting of Messrs. M. Diveley, H. J. Latshaw, E. R. Threlkeld, T. J. 
Lynde, Major W. A. M. Vaughan, Colonel C. E. Kearney, and A. J. Gillespie. 
This meeting was brought about by some correspondence with the Great Central 
Dispatch Company, which proposed to put barges on the river. Nothing came 
of this proposition, however, and subsequently a committee was sent to St. Louis 
for the purpose of securing, if possible, some relaxation of the railroad pool 
rates from the Missouri Pacific and St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroads. 
But this mission was unsuccessful, and on the return of the committee, an inef- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 177 

fectual effort was made to start a company to build barges, after which the inter- 
est was allowed to slumber for another year. 

The Memphis Railroad project, in which Kansas City and Jackson county 
had been so largely and so unsuccessfully interested since 1870, re-appeared this 
year, and claimed a share of attention. On the 12th of April it was sold in bank- 
ruptcy, and was bought in by a company of Kansas City men for fifteen thou- 
sand and twenty-five dollars. Mr. J. D. Bancroft, formerly cashier of the First 
National Bank, and at this time a grain merchant, became manager for the pur- 
chasers, and made an effort to raise the money to build it, but without success ; 
and it slumbered in the hands of this company for several years without anything 
further being done to build it. 

Other railroad enterprises, however, were more fortunate, and. the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad began the construction of branches from Emporia 
south, since finished to Howard, Kansas, and from Florence to Eldorado, since 
finished through to a connection with the main Hne again at Ellinwood. 

During the early part of the year there was considerable discussion of a 
proposition to put a dam across the Kaw River a few miles above the city 
for the purpose of creating a water power for manufacturing purposes, and Mr. 
Pierson, engineer for the water company, made a favorable report concerning it, 
but nothing was ever done about it. 

The long-continued effort to induce the railroads centering here to build an 
eligible Union Passenger Depot was this year successful. Early in the year a 
company was organized for that purpose, composed of the representatives of the 
different lines, and the work begun. On the loth of July the old wooden shed 
which had been used for that purpose was abandoned, and the point of inter- 
change moved to the State Line Depot. Immediately afterward the old shed 
was taken down and the construction of the present elegant building begun. It 
was finished in January following and opened to the public with C. H. Dunham, 
Esq., as superintendent, A. vV. Millspaugh, ticket agent, and John Hale, bag- 
gage master.- Its cost was about two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. 

One of the most exciting events since the close of the war occurred this year. 
It was the great railroad strike which, beginning with the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad in July, swept over the country like a cyclone, causing much loss of 
property in Pittsburg and other cities, and demoralizing railway business serious- 
ly for some time. It reached Kansas City on the afternoon of the 23d of July, in 
the refusal of freight-train men to work further without an advance of wages. 
That night meetings of the strikers were held, and the next day a mob of lawless 
individuals, made up chiefly of idlers, paraded the streets and forbade working 
men generally to proceed with their work. This looked ominous, and aroused 
the people. Meetings were quietly held that night and measures taken to protect 
property. Capt. H. H. Craig promptly raised a company of men and had them 
sworn in as special police, to protect the city. This prompt preparation for the 
mob crushed the lawless spirit of that class of idle adventurers, who were evident- 
ly seeking to take advantage of the railroad strike, create disorder and destruc- 
tion, such as had prevailed in Pittsburg. The matter was thus confined to the 
railroad men and their employers, who succeeded in adjusting their difficulties so 
that freight business was resumed on the 30th of July. The passenger trains 
were not stopped at any time, as they carried the mails, and the strikers did not 
apparently seek a collision with the government authorities by stopping the 
mails. From this affair arose the Craig Rifles, which have since been quite an 
interesting military and social organization. 

The Board of Trade Building, which had been begun in the fall of 1876, was 
so far completed that the daily meeting of the Board was removed to it July 28th. 
On the 2nd day of August the office rooms in the building were let at public 
auction, only members of the Board engaged in grain, produce, provision or 




COAXES HOUSE, KANSAS CITY, MO. 
Kersey Coates, Proprietor. Cor, Tenlh and Broadway. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 179 

flour, being allowed to bid. The letting was at the rate of $13,270 per annum, 
or about twenty one per cent on the investment. 

During the year 1877 there was considerable improvement in the city, re- I 
lating more, however, to its general condition. The Board of Trade report for 
that year thus sums up some of its leading features : 

" The population of Kansas City has been increasing rapidly for the past 
year and a half. The last estimate of population published in our city directory 
was in 1873, when it appeared that the population was 40,740. I am informed 
by Mr. J. H. Ballenger, who compiles our directory, that the population in June 
of the year under review, was 41,786, showing an increase since 1873 of 1,046. 
Mr. Ballenger also informs me that immediately succeeding the panic of 1873, 
the population fell off considerably — a fact attributable to the depression of in- 
dustrial interests and the cessation of public improvement. About July, 1876, 
this lost population began to come back to us, and by the beginning of 1877 the J 
tenement houses of Kansas City \Vere again full. Since that time, several hun- 
dred additional houses have been built and filled, and all vacant rooms over busi- 
ness houses have been occupied also: so that it is estimated that the, new popula- 
tion coming within the past year and a half does not fall materialy short of eight 
thousand people. 

" The movement of real estate likewise shows an improvement. There has I 
not beeh so much improvement in the number of transfers, as in the better tone ' 
of the market, the higher valuation at which it is held, and the advance of rentals, 
which latter will average not less than fifty per cent. 

" There has been no great enlargement of the industrial interest of the city, 
but estalishments previously existing are doing much more business and employ- 
ing a larger number of operatives, and are generally much more prosperous. 

" The markets of Kansas City have experienced marked improvement during 
the year. The amiount of property coming into them for sale has much increased, 
and, in many respects, was of improved quality. There has been an increase of 
merchants engaged in purchasing and forwarding the produce offered, and with 
the increase of men there was also an increase of money. The markets have 
been active during the year, and have sustained their former high valuations as 
compared with other markets." 

The extension of transportation facilities, other than those mentioned already 
in this chapter, consisted of the extension of the Clay Center Branch of the Kan- 
sas Pacific Railroad to Clifton, and the extension of the Central Branch Union 
Pacific to Concordia. This latter road made its eastern terminus at Atchison, 
Kansas, but met with such competition in the Republican Valley, from the Clay 
Center Branch of the Kansas Pacific, that it was compelled to make rates to Kan- 
sas City, by the way of the Missouri Pacific from Atchison, and thus became vir- 
tually a Kansas City road. The Joplin Railroad was also built this year from 
Girard, on the Fort Scott and Gulf, and at the end of the year it was proposed to 
extend it to the line of the Fort Smith & Little Rock Railroad, in Arkansas, thus 
securing a through line to the Mississippi River at Chicot, by the latter road and 
the Little Rock, Mississippi River & Texas, which was then about to be completed 
between Little Rock and Pine Bluff. 

THE EVENTS OF 1 878. 

The year 1878 began under very favorable auspices, and great activity and 
improvements were promised. These promises, however, were not fully realized, 
yet the year was an eventful one. 

In January all the arrangements for the building of the extension of the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad were completed, except the procurement of the right- 
of-way through the city. An effort was made early in the year to find a route 
and procure right-of-way into the southeastern part of the city by the valley of 



180 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

O. K. Creek, but it was found that the right-of-way was so expensive, and the 
grades so high, that it was abandoned, and about the ist of July the company 
decided to adopt the route on which the road was subsequently built. Much 
difficulty was experienced in obtaining this right-of-way from the city, owing to 
the opposition of a few members of the city council. It was formally refused by 
a vote of that body July 17th, which led to a spirited public meeting at the Board 
of Trade hall on the evening of the i8th, at which the action of the council was 
severely commented upon by leading business men. The matter was brought 
up in the council again on the 8th of August and the right-of-way granted. Tlie 
construction of the road meantime was progressing rapidly below, and on the 
4th of December work was begun in the city limits by the contractor, Peter 
Sedan. 

BANK CHANGES AND SUSPENSIONS. 

About the beginning of the year 1878 was a time of great strain upon the 
banking houses of Kansas City, owing to the fact that the winter was very mild 
and very wet, which retarded the movement of the grain crops, depressed hog 
packing, and hence the live stock market, and materially depressed all kinds of 
trade. Merchants and others who were customers of the banks could not, there- 
fore, meet their paper prompdy, and, in addition to having to ask for extension, 
had also to seek further accommodation. 

The Watkins Bank was consolidated with the Bank of Kansas City on the 
8th of December, 1877, and from subsequent developments was not in a very 
strong position when it did so. This bank was originally established by H. M. 
Northrup & Co. in 1857, and was the first regular banking institution in Kansas 
City. It was conducted by Messrs. Northrup & Co. until 1864, when it was 
transferred by them to J. Q. Watkins & Co., and Messrs. tNorthrup & Chick 
went to New York, where they did a successful banking business until 1873, when 
they were so badly injured by the great panic of that year that they again came 
West. Mr. Chick became cashier of the Kansas City National Bank, which had 
been established in 1872. This bank was subsequently re-organized as a private 
bank, under the name of the Bank of Kansas City, with Mr. Chick as president. 
Thus the original bank, with the establishment of which he was connected in 1857, 
passed again into his hands, when the Watkins Bank was consolidated with the 
Bank of Kansas City in December 1877. 

The event however that affected Kansas City most was the failure of the 
First National Bank, which occurred on the 29th of January, carrying down 
with it the Commercial National Bank, a fine little bank of one hundred thou- 
sand dollars capital. The history and character of the First National up to this 
time has already been given in these pages. It had come to be regarded as the 
great bank of Kansas City by all classes of people, and owing to its enterprising, 
liberal management there was not a hne of trade, and scarcely a merchant or 
business man of any class, that was not indebted to it for favors. It had been 
its practice, since Mr. Howard M. Holden took the management of it, to foster 
all kinds of business. It had been a great promoter of the markets, and at this 
time was the leading source of accommodations for live stock and grain merchants 
and packers. Usually, in the latter part of the year it was liberal with these 
classes, and so enabled them to carry forward their business until they could 
begin to realize in the winter. The bad weather of this winter prevented them 
from meeting their engagements with it and its suspension was unexpectedly 
announced on the morning of January 29th. The same day the Commercial 
National closed, being weakened by a similar state of affairs and overborne by 
the drain that usually results to all Banks by the suspension of one so promi- 
nent as was the First National. This made a great sensation in Kansas City and 
the surrounding country, as the First National was the leading depository in Kan- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 181 

sas City, for the country banks, but the sentiment of the people contained noth- 
ing of blame for the officers of the Banks. On the contrary, they were the 
recipients of universal sympathy for their loss, while the people deeply deplored 
the loss to the city of so valuable an institution. The expression of this senti- 
ment was so remarkable, and so different from that which ordinarily attends the 
failure of a bank that it merits a place in our history. 

On the 30th of January, at a meeting of the Live-Stock Merchants, the 
following paper was adopted and signed : 

Kansas Stock Yards, January 30, 1878. 
"We, the undersigned Live-Stock Commission Merchants, of Kansas City, 
Mo., in view of the suspension of the First National Bank, of our city, as 
announced in the morning papers, take this method of expressing our unquali- 
fied faith in the statement of the Bank officers that every depositor will be paid in 
full, and in this connection we wish to record our unbounded confidence in H. 
M. Holden, President of said Bank, as a just and upright man, of unimpeacha- 
ble integrity, and financial ability of the highest order, to which Kansas City 
and the country adjacent thereto as largely indebted for their rapid and solid 
growth. 

[Signed] "W. H. Kingsbury & Co.; Quinlan, Montgomery & Co.; James H. 
Payne; J. T. Johnson & Co.; Gillespie, Reed & Co.; Shough & 
Clements; Rogers & Rogers; White & Holmes ; J. F. Foster; 
John F. Gregory; Irwin, Allen & Co.; Rial, Cox & Co.; Stoller 
& Hill; L. M. Hunter; T. J. Allen; Barse & Snider; A. B. Mat- 
thews; L. V. Morse (Supt. Yards); Nofsinger, Harper & Co.; 
J. K. Proudfit ; W. B. Grimes." 

On 'Change the grain merchants had a meeting and adopted the following 
resolutions : 

"Whereas, Financial events in our city may lead to a feeling of uneasiness in 
business circles, and as this board has ample evidence as to the ultimate solvency 
of the First National Bank and the Commercial National Bank, therefore, 

'■^Resolved, That our confidence in the integrity of the management of these 
banks is unimpaired, and we believe fully the statement of their officers, that all 
depositors and creditors will be paid to the utmost satisfaction of all demands, and 
we say this, that causeless panic and uneasiness may be prevented. 

'■'■ Resolved, That such is our confidence in these institutions and their officers 
and stock-holders, that we hope for and desire an early resumption of business, 
and pledge ourselves to extend all the aid we can to that end — both to the man- 
agement and to the public." 

At the annual election of the Board of Trade, about three weeks preceding 
these events, Mr. Holden had been unanimously elected president of that insti- 
tution. Hence, from a sense of delicacy, he sent his resignation to the board, on 
the 30th, the day following the suspension of the bank. This document was laid 
before the board on the ist of February, when, on motion of E. R. Threlkeld, 
the board voted unanimously for the appointment of a committee to wait upon 
Mr. Holden and request its withdrawal. That committee in the discharge of this 
duty presented Mr. Holden with the following note, which further exhibits the 
sentiment prevailing in the community at the time : 

"Kansas City, Mo., February ist, 1878. 
" H. M. Holden, Esq., 

'■'■President Board of Trade. 

'■'■Dear Sir: — At a meeting of the Board of Trade to-day, your resigna- 
tion as president was tendered, and the undersigned were appointed a committee 
to return it to you with renewed assurances of our confidence and respect, and to 
inform you that it is the united wish of the membership that you reconsider your 



182 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

action, and withdraw your resignation, and that you continue in the office to 
which you were unanimously elected. 

" We indulge the hope that you will cheerfully comply with this request. 

" Yours very respectfully, 
[Signed.] "E. R. THRELKELD, 

N. J. LATSHAW, 
C. E. KEARNEY, 
J. D. BANCROFT, 
WEB. WITHERS." 

A few days later, Feb. 4th, after people had taken time to reflect, the mer- 
chants and business men, who were not connected actively with either the live 
stock or grain markets, called a public meeting at the Board of Trade Hall, to 
express themselves concerning the matter. This meeting was largely attended 
and adopted the following resolutions : 

"Whereas, A combination of circumstances which no reasonable sagacity 
could forsee or skill prevent has compelled the First National Bank of Kansas 
City to suspend, and 

"Whereas, The officers of said Bank have assured the public that its assets 
are fully adequate to pay all depositors and creditors, and 

"Whereas, The First National Bank has always stood ready to help the 
public and private enterprises of Kansas City and the adjacent country, and 
thereby has exerted a most potent influence in developing the business, commerce 
and resources of Kansas City and the country, therefore 

'■'•Resolved, That we, the merchants and business men of Kansas City, inter- 
ested as patrons or depositors of the First National Bank, and in the interests and 
institutions eff"ected by its suspension, have full and complete confidence in the 
officers of the bank, and in their assurances that all depositors and creditors will 
be paid in full. 

'•'■Resolved, That we believe the suspension of said bank was the result of 
circumstances that could not have been prevented, and that the officers of said 
bank are not in any respect blamable therefore, 

'■'■Resolved, That the loss we apprehend from said suspension is that incident 
to the reduction of our banking facilities, should the suspension become perma- 
nent, and the withdrawal, from the banking business in Kansas City, of the 
peculiarly wise and liberal management which has heretofore directed the affairs 
of the First National Bank, and though it exercised such a beneficent policy in 
developing the trade and commerce of Kansas City and the resources of the 
country commercially tributary thereto, 

'•'■Resolved, That inasmuch as we have ever regarded the First National Bank 
as peculiarly the friend of Kansas City, and the strongest supporter and promoter 
of our trade, that we cannot contemplate its permanent suspension and withdrawal 
from business except with apprehension of results of the most unfortunate 
character, and bordering upon public c^amity, therefore we wish here to express 
our earnest hope that it may speedily resume business, and in that event we stand 
ready to give it the utmost support in our power." 

The papers signed by a large number of depositors and expressing sentiments 
similar to the above were presented and read at the meeting. 

The suspension of these banks was a severe blow to Kansas City. Owing to 
the mildness and dampness of the weather, merchants had been unable to dispose 
of the stock provided for their winter trade, and the products of the country were 
still unmarketed. Hence, in addition to being deprived of the assistance that 
might otherwise have been reasonably expected from the banks, the people sud- 
denly found themselves confronted with the necessity of repaying loans already 
secured, which caused no little embarrassment, depressed the markets, cut short the 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 183 

supply of currency for a time, and stopped several enterprises which the people 
were inaugurating for the ensuing year. 

THE BARGE LINES 

Among the enterprises thus stopped, and the most important of all, was barge 
navigation on the Missouri River. The grain business had now attained such 
proportions that the people felt that this facility must be provided. To that end 
a meeting was held at the Coates House on the evening of January 17th, at 
which the matter was referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. H. J. Lat- 
shavv, C. H. Prescott, T. J. Lynde, R. W. Quade and F. J. Baird, for the pur- 
pose of maturing plans. Two days afterward, January 19th, another meeting 
was held at which this committee reported, recommending the organization of a 
Kansas City company with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, to own and operate 
the barges. The proposition was so favorably received that four thousand, five 
hundred dollars was subscribed at the meeting. Resolutions were adopted asking 
Congress for appropriations to remove snags and other obstructions from the 
channel ; and a committee of twenty was appointed to place the stock of the 
company. On the 20th this committee met at the Coates House and laid out 
their work, and on the 23d a large public meeting was held at the Board of 
Trade, which was addressed by Messrs. Col. Coates, H. M. Holden, Hon. 
Stephen A. Cobb, of Wyandotte, James M. Nave, H. J. Latshaw, Capt. A. J. 
Baker, T. K. Hanua, John Freeland and Capt. McClelland. The committee of 
twenty was making very satisfactory progress and had placed about twenty thou- 
sand dollars of the stock, and had promises for ten thousand more when the 
banks failed, after which it was found impossible to place more of it. However, 
it was believed that the balance could be procured during the spring, and on the 
12th of February a meeting of thesubscribers decided to organize the company 
and appointed Messrs. Latshaw and Lynde to prepare the papers. The work of 
this committee was reported at a meeting held February 14th, at which the com- 
pany elected as directors for the first year : Messrs. K. Coates, B. A. Sheidley, 
T. B. Bullene, T. J. Lynde, H. J. Latshaw, John Freeland, J. M. Nave, H. 
M. Holden, Thomas Corrigan, S. B. Armour, C. H. Prescott, D. B. Powers and 
John J. Mastin. This company finding it impossible in the existing state of 
financial affairs to place the remainder of its stock, never filed its papers, but it 
partly accomplished its objects in another way. On the 20th of March, Messrs. 
Coates, Latshaw and Freeland went to St. Louis for the purpose of ascertaining 
if barges could be had. They did not succeed in finding barges that could be 
bought, but their mission brought them into communication with the Mississippi 
Valley Transportation company and with the Babbage Transportation company, 
and they both became so favorably impressed with the project that they sent fleets 
of barges to Kansas City that year. The first of these fleets to arrive at Kansas 
City was that of the Mississippi Valley Transportation company, and consisted of 
the steamer Grand Lake and three barges. It left Kansas City July 5th, taking 
out 83,540 bushels of corn. The barges connected with this fleet were very large 
for the river ; one of them left our wharf drawing six feet of water, yet there 
being a good stage of water at the time the fleet reached St. Louis in safety, and 
without material hindrance. The next fleet was the first of the Babbage company, 
and consisted of the steamer A. J. Baker and three barges. This fleet made 
three trips during the season. The first, July 27th, took out 62,038 bushels of 
corn, the second, August 12th, took out 50,938, and the third, August 31st, took 
out 44,198 bushels of wheat, and all were very successful. The cost of freight 
by these barges was, to the shipper, five and a half cents per hundred, including 
insurance, the railroad rate being about eight cents on corn and thirteen on wheat. 
It cost the barge companies about two and a half cents to carry the grain to St. 
Louis, and Capt. Lowery, of the Babbage company, estimated that grain could 



184 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

then be carried from Kansas City to New Orleans at a cost to the shippers of 
seven cents, and pay a reasonable profit to the carriers. These facts were re- 
garded as a demonstration of the feasibility of barge navigation of the Missouri 
River. 

THE FAILURE OF THE MASTIN BANK. 

The city had fairly raUied from the effects of the failure of the First 
National and Commercial National Bank, when on the 3d of August the Mastin 
Bank failed. Prior to the suspension of the First National, that Bank and the 
Mastin were the two leading banks of the city, hence when the First National 
failed the Mastin took quite a leading position. Other banks, however, notably 
the Kansas City, and the Kansas City Savings Association, were brought into 
much greater prominence by that event. With the failure of the Mastin Bank 
in August these two became the leading banks. For a time, however, there was 
considerable embarrassment in business circles, for the lack of currency. The 
statement of the Mastin Bank at the time of its failure showed a large advance of 
money to the Water company and considerable investments in mines, and it was 
probably the tying up of its resource in this way, more than anything else that 
led to its failure. The capital of the other two banks mentioned was enlarged 
soon after the failure of the Mastin, and the Armour Bros, immediately began 
arrangements to estabnsh another bank. This bank was opened for business on 
the 15th of September, in the room previously occupied by the Mastin Bank, in 
the Board of Trade, with A. W. Armour, Esq., as President, and C. H. Pres- 
cott, for many years previous auditor of the Fort Scott road, as cashier. It at 
once took a prominent position. 

OTHER ENTERPRISES OF 1878. 

On the 19th of January a number of leading citizens organized a Mining 
Stock Board for the purpose of locating here a market for Mining Stock. Col. C. 
E. Kearney was President, T. F. Oakes and H. M. Holden, Vice-Presidents, 
Col. John C. Moore, Secretary, and Mead Woodson, Treasurer. It tried to 
arrange for the opening of the Board May loth, but did not succeed, and before 
the close of the year passed into entire quiescence. 

BLOODED STOCK SALES. 

On the 15th of May there was opened here the first great sale of blooded 
cattle, the stock coming mainly from the blue grass regions of Kentucky. It 
was tried as a venture by parties owning the stock, and was so successful that it 
has been since maintained as a semi-annual sale. At this first sale two hundred 
animals were sold at an aggregate price of twenty-four thousand dollars. This 
and subsequent sales have brought into the country adjacent to Kansas City large 
numbers of blooded animals, the effect of which in the improvement of cattle 
is already perceived. 

THE COURT HOUSE AND POST-OFFICE. 

On the 8th of March, a bill authorizing the construction of a public building 
in Kansas City, for Post-Office and Custom House purposes passed Congress. It 
was introduced by Hon. B. J. Franklin, of this city, who at that time represen- 
ted this district in Congress, and provided for a building to cost two hundred 
thousand dollars, one hundred of which was appropriated at that session. Besides 
this bill for the benefit of Kansas City, Mr. Franklin secured the passage of a 
bill authorizing the holding of United States Courts in this city, and introduced 
a bill providing for the organization of the Indian Territory and its opening to 
settlement, for the passage of which he made great, but, unfortunately, unsuc- 
cessful efforts. In this latter he received the support of the people in unanimous 
resolutions adopted at pubUc meetings and forwarded to him. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 185 

RAILWAY EXTENSION. 

The extension of railway lines in which Kansas City was interested during 
the year was thus stated at its close in the report of the Board of Trade : 

" The extension of railroads centering at Kansas City was very considerable 
during the year. Chief among these extensions was that of the Chicago & Alton 
from Mexico, Missouri, to Kansas City, making another through line to Chicago 
and St. Louis. This road was nearly completed during the year, and in a few 
weeks will be opened for business. The next in immediate importance — probably 
the most important for this place — was the extension of the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe Railroad from Pueblo, Colorado, to Clifton, New Mexico, from whence 
it is to be rapidly extended to a connection with the Southern Pacific, of Califor- 
nia, making a southern trans-continental route, a more valuable and important 
road than the Union Pacific. This road has also been engaged in building a 
branch to Leadville, Colorado, which will give railroad facilities to the rich San 
Juan country. The Central Branch Union Pacific has also extended its line to 
Beloit, Kansas, which brings to Kansas City the trade of the upper Republican 
and Solomon Valleys of Kansas. The Kansas Pacific extended its Clay Center 
Branch to Clyde, and built a branch from Solomon City to Minneapolis, which 
have the same general effect as the extension of the Central Branch. The Kan- 
sas City, Burlington & Santa Fe Railroad was further extended from Williams- 
burg to Burliagton, which brings Kansas City an important addition to her trade 
from the southwestern part of central Kansas." 

The pool that had existed since September 15, 1876, was dissolved on the 
1 6th of March of this year, and was followed with the first severe railroad war 
in which the lines at Kansas City were ever engaged. This fight was apparently 
sought by the St. Louis lines, as against those leading to Chicago, and was inau- 
gurated by the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern, on the ist of April, with a cut 
of rates to about one-third. It raged furiously for a short time, when the pool 
was re-organized. 

It was during this year that Mr. Jay Gould first became interested in lines of 
road leading to Kansas City, since when his operations have led to many lively 
manipulations. This came about in this way: Mr. Gould was the chief owner of 
the Union Pacific, which, by its charter, was required to pro-rate in equal terms 
with the Kansas Pacific, for California business — a thing it had always refused to 
do. T. F. Oakes, Esq., who had, for many years, been general freight agent of 
the Kansas Pacific, had now became its general superintendent, and in that po- 
sition was able to give the company most efticient aid in its long struggle with the 
Union Pacific, for its charter rights. Early in the year he got Mr. Chaffee, of 
Colorado, to introduce into Congress a bill to compel the Union Pacific to respect 
the rights of the Kansas Pacific, and a large public meeting in Kansas City, held 
February 8th, gave it a strong indorsement, and memorialized Congress on the sub- 
ject. Similar action was taken at other places, and resulted in the favorable report- 
ing of the bill in March, with a good prospect of its becoming a law. Mr. Gould 
could not defeat the measure by opposing it, and hence, in April, he sent agents 
to St. Louis, who succeeded in buying a controlling interest in the Kansas Pacific, 
and then withdrew the opposition of that company. In June the Kansas Pacific 
and Union Pacific pooled on Colorado business, but the through rates to Califor- 
nia, which the public interested in the Kansas Pacific had been struggling for, 
and were led to expect, were not granted. 

Notwithstanding the bank suspensions and financial embarrassments of the 
year, 1878 witnessed much substantial progress in Kansas City, due to the large 
influx of people and money. The population July ist was estimated by the di- 
rectory at 50,126, an increase of 8,340 since the same time in 1877, and it was 
estimated that 5,000 had come in between July and January. There were 706 new 



186 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

houses built during the year, at a cost of $1,040,000, many of them elegant busi- 
ness and residence houses. 

THE EVENTS OF 1879. 

Early in the year 1879 a proposition was made by some of the old members 
of the old Chamber of Commerce to revive that organization, but after several 
meetings and a conference with the Board of Trade, the scheme was abandoned 
and the Committee of Commerce of the Board of Trade was appointed in its 
stead. This committee has never been an active one, yet several important en- 
terprises have been inaugurated and secured by it, among which Avas the smelting 
works and barge line of 1880. 

One of its first acts was to memorialize Congress on the improvement of the 
Missouri River. On the 7th of January Messrs. Camp, McDowell and Poe, 
Government Commissioners to lo^ .tte the court house and post-office, arrived in 
Kansas City, and, after acquai.:! ng themselves with the views of the people 
and examining the different oi*^c:3 offered, accepted the corner of Ninth and 
Walnut streets, January 25th, and it was purchased for $8,500 and the work of 
constructing the building soon afterward begun. 

In May a party of United States engineers, under J. W. Nier, Esq., arrived 
in Kansas City, and commenced work on the improvement of the river a few miles 
north of the city, an appropriation of $30,000 for that purpose having been se- 
cured by Mr. Franklin. About the same time the first term of the United States 
District Court jvas begun in Kansas City, Judge Krekel presiding. 

In the latter part of the month, Robert Gillham, a young engineer who had 
recently located in the city, proposed to improve the means of transit between 
the western and eastern parts of the city by building a tramway down the Bluff 
on Ninth street. He secured the interest of many of the best men in the city, 
but the project has met with such unfavorable treatment at the hands of the City 
Council that it is still one of Kansas City's uncompleted enterprises. 

In August, the first effort was made to organize a Provident Association in 
Kansas City. Mr. J. T. Howenstein was the projector of this movement and 
about forty prominent business men joined it; but for lack of attention it was 
allowed to expire. 

In September, much interest was taken in a proposition to convert the 
roads of Rosedale and Independence into boulevards, but after a number of 
public meetings the interest was allowed to die out ; yet it will doubtless be done 
at some future time. 

This year was one of great activity in business and individual enterprises of 
all kinds. Trade was rapidly extended in all directions ; the population increased, 
according to the directory estimate, to 60,372. Real estate became very active, 
and transfers increased $1,943,350; beside which there were thirteen additions 
platted and largely sold, some of which were outside the city limits. And there 
were about thirteen hundred new houses built, at an estimated cost of about $1,- 
500,000. 

RAILROAD MATTERS. 

The chief feature of this year was the construction of new railroads in the 
country in which Kansas City was interested, and changes in ownership of other 
roads. The report of the Board of Trade for the year, thus summarizes the 
matter : 

"The building of new railroads was revived with the beginning of the year, 
and the roads in which Kansas City is interested were extended or built branches. 
The Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad built a branch from Baxter Springs 
to Joplin ; the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern extended its Independence 
branch to Greenwood, and is pushing it on to Arkansas City. The main line of 
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe was extended from Clifton to Las Vegas, New 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 187 

Mexico, its Cottonwood Valley Branch was extended to McPherson, its Eureka 
branch to Howard, and its Wichita branch to Wellington and Arkansas City. 
The Kansas Pacific extended its Clay Center branch to Concordia, its Solomon 
Valley branch to Beloit, and built a branch from Sahna to McPherson. It also 
bought up and rebuilt and put into operation the old Lawrence & Carbondale 
road, which had been unused for several years. It also bought up the Denver 
Pacific from Denver to Cheyenne, and the Colorado Central and Boulder Valley, 
and the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The Central Branch Union Pacific, 
now a part of the Missouri Pacific, extended its Concordia Branch to Cawker 
City and built a branch to Kirwin and Stockton. The Atchison & Nebraska 
Railroad was extended from Lincoln to Columbus, and the St. Joe & Denver to 
a connection with the Union Pacific. Besides the new railroads thus actually 
built, much more has been laid out for the coming year. The old ill-fated Kansas 
City & Memphis road has been sold to a party of Boston capitalists, who propose 
to build about one hundred miles of it the coming year, and extend it afterward 
as. occasion may require. The Burlington & Southeastern Railroad, which now 
runs from Burlington, Iowa, to Laclede, Missouri, has announced its intention of 
coming through to Kansas City during the coming year, and has made four sur- 
veys in search of a suitable route. The Kansas City & Northeastern Company 
has also surveyed a line from Kansas City to Chillicothe, Mo., and expect to 
begin the construction during the coming year." 

" Besides the enterprises here enumerated, the Missouri Pacific Company 
extended its line between Holden and Paola to Ottawa, and built the old Fall 
River Railroad from Paola to Leroy; and the Lexington & Southern from Pleas- 
ant Hill, on the Missouri Pacific, to Nevada on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
had been projected." 

The same report thus states the sales of roads : 

" Great changes have taken place during the year in the ownership of the rail- 
roads at Kansas City. Mr. Jay Gould and associates, who previously held control 
of the Union & Kansas Pacific and St. Joe & Denver Railroads west of the Mis- 
souri River and the Wabash road east of the Mississippi, bought early in the 
year a controlling interest in the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern and consoli- 
dated it with the Wabash under the name of Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific. This 
connected the roads except the Union Pacific, and to make connection with it the 
Pattonsburgh Branch of the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern was extended 
through to Omaha. Soon afterward the same parties bought the Missouri Pacific 
and the Central Branch Union Pacific and have since consolidated them, making 
two divisions, connecting with each other at Kansas City. The same parties also 
bought an interest in the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad during the year, and 
latterly have bought the Missouri, Kansas & Texas." 

In addition to the sales of roads here mentioned, the Fort Scott Company 
bought the Springfield & Western Missouri road in June, and has since com- 
pleted it to a connection with the main line at Fort Scoit ; and Mr. Gould bought 
the Kansas City & Eastern Narrow Gauge in November, and in December it was 
leased to the Missouri Pacific, which he had previously bought, and became a 
division of that road. Another important addition to Kansas City's railway facil- 
ities was the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, which in December made a con- 
tract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad for trackage rights over that road 
from Cameron, Mo., and it began to run its trains to Kansas City on the ist of 
January, 1880. 

The year 1879 ^^'^^ characterized by another great railroad war, which 
seemed to be the result of the completion of the Chicago & Alton Railroad to 
Kansas City. In view of its early completion the pool was dissolved again on 
the 1 2th of April, and a promiscuous cutting of rates opened on the 14th. The 
Alton, however, was not opened for business until the 18th, and did not begin 



188 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



running passenger trains until May 13. The war arose over the allotment of its 
share of business to St. Louis, and was inaugurated by the St. Louis roads. On 
the 7th of June the war was extended to passenger business also, and for the re- 
mainder of the summer passenger rates between Kansas City and St. Louis, and 
Kansas City and Chicago were but fifty cents ; and 'freight rates went so low that 
for a considerable time grain was carried from Kansas City to St. Louis for five 
cents, and to Chicago for seven cents per bushel, and at one time reached the al- 
most incredible limit of three cents to St. Louis and five to Chicago. The 
trouble, however, came to a close in September, and on the 12th of that month 
a new pool was formed which took in the Alton. 

While this fight was pending, in June and July, the contract between the 
Hannibal & St. Joseph and the Wabash, by which the latter road used the track 
of the former from Arnold Station to the bridge, and the contract for right of way 
across the bridge, expired, andtlc ^esult was a lively individual conflict between 
the two roads. It was ended, '.owever, in the Wabash building a track of its 
own, and making a new bridge contract, but the end of the fight was reached 
only through the courts. 

CITY GROWTH. 

The growth of the city during the years included in this chapter was rapid, 
and the following new additions had been added to the city during this and the 
preceding year : 

September 3, 1878 — Mastin's Sub-division. 

September 3, '78 — Park Place Addition. 

December 9, '78 — Traber's Sub-division. 

April 19, '79 — Hunt's Sub-division. 

May 28, '79 — Hyde & Foster's Addition. 

June II, '79 — Lott's Addition. 

November 12, '79 — Bovard & Dickson's Sub-division. 

June 28, '79 — E. S. Brown's Sub-division. 

July II, '79 — Winter's Addition. 

July 25, '79 — R. Salisbury's Addition. 

August 13, '79 — Vineyard's Third Sub-division. 

August 18, '79 — Woodland Place Sub-division. 

August 23, '79 — Marty's Addition to Woodland. 

September 3, '79 — Brigham's Addition. 

September 9, '79 — Craig's Sub-division. 

October 2, '79 — Wm. C. Arrs' Addition. 




HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 189 

CHAPTER XVI. 
THE EVENTS OF 1880 AND 1881. 

The Establishment of the Smelting Works — The Barge Company Organized — The Missouri River 
Improvement Convention — The Missouri River Improvement Association Formed — Street 
Improvements — Col. Van Horti's Election to Congress — Railway Construction and Railway 
Changes — The Great Flood of 1881 — The Growth of the City — Statistical Exhibit of the City^s 
History. 

One of the earliest events in 1880 was the opening of the American Union 
and Atlantic and Pacific telegraph offices in Kansas City, which occurred on the 
5th of January. The Atlantic and Pacific had, at one time before, had an office 
in Kansas City, but several years previous this company had been bought out by 
the Western Union, and was under the control of that company. When this sale 
took place the office in Kansas City was abolished. The American Union was a 
new company, organized about two years before by Mr. Jay Gould, and having 
now completed an extensive system of lines, was put into operation, and the 
Atlantic & Pacific was again put into operation to fight it. 

Besides some cutting in rates little occurred to affect the interests of Kansas 
City until February 27th, when the Union Pacific Railroad Company, with which 
the Kansas Pacific had been consolidated in January, and which was now con- 
trolled by Mr. Gould, took possession of the Western Union Wires along the old 
Kansas Pacific road. This was done by force, and on the ground that the railroad 
needed them for its own business, but the real object doubtless was to unite them 
with the American Union system. This led to litigation which resulted in the 
restoration of the wires to the Western Union Company, by order of the United 
States Courts, on the 15th of April. All three of these companies continued to 
operate in Kansas City until January, i88t, when they were consolidated and all 
offices abolished except the old Western Union. 

THE SMELTING WORKS. 

The project of smelting and refining works for the smelting of the ores of 
Colorado and New Mexico, had been discussed for several years in Kansas City. 
T. F. Oakes, Esq., was probably the first mau to propose it, and that was while 
he was general freight agent of the Kansas Pacific Railway. Early in the year 
1879 the Committee of Commerce of the Board of Trade took up the subject, and 
tried to organize such an enterprise, but as there was no man available who under- 
stood the practical part of the business, little was done with it until December, 
when Col. W. N. Ewing, who had had charge of the Copper Hill Works, in 
Colorado, came to Kansas City and took an interest in it. During the four 
months following stock was placed to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, and 
the company was organized May 12, 1880, with Col. C. F. Morse as President, 
John Doggett, Vice-President; W. H. Miller, Secretary; and J. M. Coburn, 
Treasurer. Col. Ewing was engaged as Superintendent, and immediately set 
about the construction of the works, which were completed and ready for opera- 
tions by the middle of November. Col. Ewing then went to Colorado to buy 
ores, where he met with Messrs. Aug. R. Meyers and N. Wetherill, of Leadville, 
proprietors of two large smelters there. They wanted some place for a refinery 
where that part of the work could be done more advantageously than it could be 
in Leadville, and, after a conference with Col. Ewing, they came to Kansas City 
and submitted a proposition to the company to take an interest in it, and increase 



190 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

the capacity of the works to double that originally designed. This proposition 
was accepted, the stock increased to $160,000, and the works have since been 
doubled in capacity. 

THE INDIAN TERRITORY MOVEMENT. 

During the year 1879, there had been much discussion throughout the west of 
a proposition to forcibly invade the Indian Territory, and take possession of a large 
body of land there, to which the Indian title had been extinguished. This dis- 
cussion caused the enforcement of the Indians tax upon the numerous herds of 
cattle held in or driven through the Territory, and caused some herds to be driven 
out of it. This was quite an injury to cattle men. Early in 1880 this agitation 
was resumed ; a company for the purpose of effecting such invasion and settle- 
ment had been organized in Wyandotte, December 24, 1879. ^ meeting called 
for the purpose of giving this movement a good send off, was held at the Board of 
Trade Hall, March 4th, though its real object was not publicly disclosed. The 
meeting was largely attended, and was addressed by Hon. B. J. Franklin, Colonel 
E. C. Budinot, a Cherokee, and other prominent men, and adopted a memorial 
to Congress, strongly urging the opening of the Indian Territory. It gave little 
countenance, however, to the proposed illegal invasion. The agitation continued, 
however, and before the close of the year a large number of people joined it, and 
under the lead of a man named Payne, got as far as Caldwell, Kansas, in the 
direction of the promised land. 

NEW PAVEMENTS. 

Early in March, Mr. B. F. Camp, patentee of the Camp pavement, came to 
Kansas City, with a proposition to pave the streets with that pavement. The 
City Council, after much discussion of the matter, made a contract with him to 
pave Fifth street, between Bluff street and Broadway, as a test. The work was 
begun late in the year, and is yet unfinished, but the people are so well pleased 
with the pavement that it is to be laid on Wyandotte street, between Fifth and 
Ninth, and probably some others. This is the first permanent pavement laid in 
Kansas City, though there are many miles of macadam, made of common lime- 
stone. 

THE BARGE LINE. 

The year 1880 saw the long discussed project of barge navigation of the 
Missouri River put upon a sure footing. The agitation of this subject, which had 
annually presented itself for discussion since 1872, was brought about by a com- 
bination between the Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, which went 
into effect April 14th, and by which freight from the line of the latter road was 
taken through to St. Louis at much less cost than the rate from the same places to 
Kansas City, and thence to St. Louis. This hurt the live stock and grain markets 
badly for a few days, until other roads leading east from Kansas City were inform- 
ed of it, and cut rates from Kansas City east. This awakened the people to the 
nature of the power into whose hands the railroads had fallen, and warned them 
of the danger. Protection was sought in the utilizing of the river. In the latter 
part of April a meeting of the Committee of Commerce of the Board of Trade was 
held, at which this plan was decided upon. The secretary was instructed to pre- 
pare a memorial to the people of the city on the subject, which was done May 
2d, and a subscription to stock in a barge company, to have a capital of one 
hundred thousand dollars, was at once put into circulation. On the 8th of May 
a meeting was held at the Board of Trade Hall, for the purpose of fostering the 
movement; and at this meeting it was decided to call a river improvement con- 
vention, to consist of representatives from all prominent places along the river, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 191 

and for all the section of country to be affected by the improvement of the river. 
Colonel K. Coates, chairman of the Committee of Commerce, was made chairman 
of a sub-committee to place the stock of the barge company, and he did a large 
part of the work personally. Several meetings of the committee were held dur. 
ing the summer, but it was not until December that the matter was finally con- 
summated. On the 6th and 7th of that month, meetings of the subscribers to the 
stock were held, and at the latter a proposition was presented from Capt. Thomas 
Poe, of St. Louis, who had commended the Babbage fleets in 1878, to put in the 
boat Peerless, which he owned, as stock in the Kansas City Company. At this 
time $65,000 had been subscribed in Kansas City. Messrs. Colonel Coates, Wit- 
ten McDonald and H. J. Latshaw were appointed a committee to visit and nego- 
tiate with Captain Poe in St. Louis, and they left at once for that city. Within 
a few days the remainder of the stock was subscribed, and the company was or- 
ganized, with Colonel Coates as president, Witten McDonald as secretary, and 
Jos. S. Chick treasurer. Captain Poe was engaged as commander and general 
manager. Five barges have since been bought, and early in the spring of 1881, 
the fleet made its first trip between St. Louis and New Orleans, while waiting for 
the Missouri River to open. 

THE RIVER CONVENTION. 

As was mentioned above, at one of the meetings in the interest of the barge 
enterprise, it was proposed to hold a convention at Kansas City to memorialize 
Congress on the improvement of the Missouri River. This was the first effort 
ever made for an improvement of that stream on an extended scale. The Com- 
mittee of Commerce of the Board of Trade caused a memorial on the subject to 
be prepared, and issued it with a call for the convention for September 21st. 
The objects sought by this movement cannot be better explained than by the 
memorial sent to the country, which was as follows : 

Board of Trade, | 

Kansas City, August 7th, 1880. ) 
To the People of the Missouri Valley : 

The undersigned, the committee of commerce of tlie Board of Trade of 
Kansas City, address you at this time for the purpose of inviting your attention 
to the importance of improving the Missouri River, and if possible of securing 
your co-operation in measures looking to that end. The object had in view is to 
secure congressional appropriations adequate to pay for such improvements of 
the river as will make it an adequate channel for the commerce of the Missouri 
Valley country, and the immediate expenditure of such appropriations in the 
actual work of improvement. 

It is true that in the present state of information concerning the Missouri 
river no estimate can be made of the extent of improvement that will be neces- 
sary, nor of the aggregate cost of such work when completed, but accurate 
surveys of the river by competent engineers will soon develop both facts. Such 
surveys we propose as the first thing to be done, and we feel assured by the gen- 
eral knowledge of the stream and by the expressed opinions of eminent engineers 
that the improvement needed and outlays required will be found far within the 
reasonable capacity of the Government and not exceeding the improvement and 
outlays bestowed upon other American waters of like or less importance. 

As stated above, the object of such improvement is to make the stream an 
adequate channel for the commerce of the whole Missouri Valley country. It is 
a well known fact that water transportation of equal perfection with the best 
other methods costs but a small fraction of the best and cheapest of other meth- 



192 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

ods. Among the methods now in use it is found that the railroad is the only 
competitor of water routes, and it is found also that with its greater speed and 
all other advantages it possesses it is still unequal to water routes, except where 
the latter are so unimproved as not to admit of the use of the most expeditions 
and economical craft. The capacities of the Missouri River, in this respect, 
have been tested, and even in its present wholly unimproved state it has been 
found far superior to railroads, although the dangers of its navigation are such as 
to make men hesitate to put their money into the necessary craft. In 1878 four 
tows of barges loaded with grain were taken from this city to St. Louis. The 
transportation of this grain, including insurance, cost the shippers five and a half 
cents per bushel, when the railroads were at that time, charging thirteen cents 
on wheat and eight cents on other grain. There was a saving therefore of seven 
and a half cents on the wheat and two and a half on the corn to the shipper; 
but the most significant fact in connection with these shipments was that it cost 
the carriers but two and a half cents per bushel including insurance, which ena- 
bled them to make a little over one hundred per cent, while saving the shippers 
the amount above stated. With this experience before them, the carriers estima- 
ted that, with improvement of the river, grain can be carried at a handsome 
profit to carriers from Kansas City to New Orleans for seven cents per bushel. 
Now from New Orleans to the European markets it costs but three cents per 
bushel more than from our Atlantic ports. The rates from Missouri River points 
to the Atlantic ports are usually about thirty-six cents per bushel on wheat and 
thirty-three on other grain. Thus it is found that the difference in favor of the 
river route is, to the seaboard twenty-nine cents per bushel on wheat and twenty- 
six cents on other grain. Deduct from these the three cents excess which it 
costs from New Orleans to European markets and we find that the river route 
will save twenty-six cents per bushel on wheat and twenty-three on other grain. 
These figures represent the additions that will be made to the present profits 
of producers, for the price of grain at every railway station in the Missouri 
Valley are the prices in European markets less carriage, and the reduction in cost 
of carriage does not affect European prices. A reduction in that item makes a 
corresponding addition to the profits of the American producer. Nor is this all; 
the proposed improvement will bring the farm lands of the Missouri Valley as 
near market, so far as regards cost of carriage, as the farm lands of New York 
and Pennsylvania, and it will make them worth more than the lands of those 
States, in proportion to their great fertility, instead of one-tenth the value as they 
are now. With such a change in the situation the increased prosperity of the 
Missouri Valley country is something that cannot be estimated in advance. 

We use here the rate from Kansas City only because that rate has been tol- 
erably defined by experience, not because we suppose that, with proper improve- 
ment of the river, the business would be monopolized by Kansas City ; for in 
that event every point on the river would have its share ; and the ascertainment 
of what the difference would be from Kansas City but illustrates what it would 
be proportionally from all other points on the river. It must be borne ip mind 
also, that grain is not the only product we export, and, therefore, the saving in 
that item but serves to illustrate what it would be proportionally on other prod- 
ucts, such as pork, bacon, lard, mess beef, dairy and barnyard products and field 
products other than grain. Nor is this all ; a like saving would be found in the 
cost of imported articles, which constitute the staple of our merchandise and 
the freight charges for which constitute the bulk of present cost. These are too 
numerous to be enumerated here. With such double saving of such extent, the 
increased prosperity of the country is not a thing to be estimated. It is some- 
thing of far more than local importance, for so considerable a portion of our 
common country could not be thus benefited without all parts feeling its bene- 
ficial eff'ects. Thus, in what we propose to ask of the General Government, we 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 193 

appear not in the attitude of supplicants for a local favor, like the improvement 
of a harbor, the building of a court house or light station, but we seek an im- 
provement that will be felt in the remotest parts of the country and that will 
benefit the whole people. 

We feel, however, that the people of the Missouri Valley have a right to 
such improvement of their river without reference to other considerations than 
local benefit. The revenues of the Government are derived from internal taxation 
and from custom duties. Of the former, we pay in proportion to the amount of 
the business taxed that we have among us. The latter, while paid immediately 
by the importers, is added to the price of imported articles, and is paid ultimately 
by the consumers. Thus it happens that we pay our share of this part of the 
revenues also. Among other expenditures the Government annually pays large 
sums for improvements of the same class as the one we claim, and as the money 
thus expended is drawn from the revenues contributed by the whole people we 
have heretofore paid our proportion of such as have been made. Our river beino- 
the only considerable stream in the United States that has heretofore received no 
attention, we feel, in view of the benefit to be derived from its improvement that 
we have a right to claim that it shall now be done at public expense, the same as 
like improvements have been made elsewhere. 

We are induced to present this matter at this time for two reasons. The 
first is that, with the settlement of political disturbances in the States about the 
mouth of the Mississippi River and the jetty improvements made thereat the 
trade of the Mississippi Valley country is rapidly falling into its old river channel. 
Two years ago one line of barges on the Mississippi river from St. Louis south 
was found adequate, while now two are required. These are over taxed with 
business and have usually contracts for months ahead, notwithstanding they have 
so increased their capacity as to have enlarged the tows beyond all precedent 
accompanied, of course, with an equally unprecedented increase in the amount 
of property conveyed, Such being the present tendency of commerce the 
Missouri Valley should be prompt to avail itself of it, and take such measures as 
will secure its share of the benefits. The second reason is that, the peOfJe of 
Kansas City have subscribed nearly all the money required to put a line of baro-es 
on the Missouri River and will soon organize a company for that purpose. 
This line of barges is proposed simply as a pioneer line, and if we can secure 
the improvement requisite to make it a successful venture the way will be open 
for similar enterprises from all points, which will fill the entire navigable river 
and make its advantages equal to all alike. 

Accompanying this will be found a call for a convention at Kansas City in 
September, the purposes of which convention is to bring together people from 
all parts of the Missouri Valley to discuss the matter, to define and oro-anize 
public sentiment concerning it, and to provide the means and measures for en- 
forcing that sentiment upon congressional attention. 

Very Respectftflly, 

K. COATES, R. T. VAN HORN, 

T. B. BULLENE, H. J. LATSHAW, 

HOLDEN, C. E. KEARNEY, 

ALLEN, T. F. OAKES. 

ARMOUR, BENJ. McLEAN, 

MARTIN, F. B. NOFSINGER, 

NAVE, C. H. PRESCOTT, 

M. MUNFORD, 

Committee of Commerce. 

The convention was largely attended, as the following list of delegates will 
show : 

13 



H. 


M 


E. 


H 


S. 


B 


E. 


L 


J. 


M. 




RAMSEY, MILLETT & HUDSON'S PUBLISHING HOUSE, KANSAS CITY, MO. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 195 



MISSOURI. 



Merchants^ Exchange, St. Louis — E. O. Stanard, A. O. Grubb, W. H. Scud- 
der, Henry Armstrong, George J. Kinsley, N. G. Larimore, Francis W. Crane, 
Walter S. Barclay, Capt. T. H. Handbury, A. P. Guibert, John D. Hinds, C. 
B. Carter, H. B. O'Reilly, Hugh Gilham, F. W. Smith, C. S. Rogers, John D. 
Rankin, P. F. Shirmer, Fred. Schwartz, H. W. Olmstead, O. M. Edgeley, Thos. 
Warren, Jr. 

Boonville — Jno. S. Elliott, W. Speed Stephens, S. Merstetter. 

St. Joseph, City — J. A. Piner, G. W. Belt, Seymour Jenkins, M. M. Clag- 
gett, E. V. Riley, VVm. Fitzgerald, J. A. Owens, Maurice Hickey, James H. 
Ringo, C. W. Campbell, Mike Gleason, Stephen Geiger. 

St. Joseph Board of Trade —John D. Clue, Hanson Gregg, H. R. W. Heart- 
wig, W. A. P. McDonald, J. M. Frazier, E. D. Marsh, J. A. Owens, F. S. Som- 
mers, A. N. Schuster, Isaac Weil. 

Buchatiati County— Y)x. Stringfellow, Judge P. M. Mclntire, E. V. Riley. 

Miller County—]. M. UUman, T. E. E. Tumber, P. S. Miller, A. Falkerson. 

Vibbard, Ray County — Thos. R. Grant. 

St. Charles — Glover Johns, Hon. A. A. Stonebraker, J. K. McDearmon, T. 
F. McDearmon. 

Eighth Mo. Con. District — Hon. S. L. Sawyer. 

Lexington — James Davis, John Reid, George S. Rathbun, W. V. L. McClel- 
land, John E. Corder, J. Q. Plattenberry. 

Moberly — Hon. G. F. Rothwell. 

Jefferson City~Dr. J. G. Riddles, J. R. Willis, H. W. Kolkmeyer. 

Richmond— C. J. Hughes, E. F. Esteb, S. B. Crispen, L. C. Centwell, J. T. 
Child, J. D. Bogie. 

Saline County— Dr. M. T. Chastian, Hugh Gilliam, Jas. D. Dill, W. L. Ir- 
vine, Judge S. M. Thompson, W. L. Erwin. 

Kansas City Board of Trade — K. Coates, H. J. Latshaw, R. T. Van Horn, 
Frank Askew, E. H. Allen, S. B. Armour, W. A. M, Vaughan, T. B. Bullene, 
W. S. Gregory, T. K. Hanna. 

Kansas City—]. M. Nave, M. Munford, Geo. J. Keating, John W. Reid, 
A. L. Mason, B. J. Franklin, C. F. Morse, E. L. Martin. 

Washington — T. W. B. Crews. 

NEBRASKA. 

Arago — Joseph Kitt. 

Lincoln Board of Trade— ^. G. Owens, L. C. Pace, T. P. Kennard, L. 
Meyer, H. J. Walsh, J. M. Burk, A. J. Buckstaff. 

Kansas. 

Monticello, Johnson County — R. T. Bass. 

Abilene—^. R. Dyer. 

Severance-^K. W. Waters. 

Farsons—T. C. Cory, A. G. Cory. 

Lola — J. H. Richards. 

Wyandotte City—]. S. Stockton, H. M. Northrop, J. P. Root, B. Judd. 

Wyandotte County— Y. ]. Lane, D. E. Cornell, S. N. Simpson, John Arthur, 
D. B. Hadley, E. L. Beusche. 

Kansas City, Kansas— B. M. Brake, C. H. Van Fossen, S. N. Simpson, W. 
S. Carroll, L. E. James. 

Olathe- -Alfred Taylor, John Hindman, T. J. Kay, Wm. Henry, Hiram P, 

Mitchell. 

Emporia— Yi. C. Cross, Lewis Lutz, S. B. Warren. 
Leavenworth— YLow. W. M. Fortescue. 



196 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Doniphan County — F. Harpster. 

Girard — E. Fanger. 

Columbus — Lewis Prell. 

Besides the prominent gentlemen embraced in this list of attending delegates, 
there were a number of letters from others. Among these were Geo. L. Wright and 
Capt. E. W. Gould, of St. Louis, Senators Saunders, of Nebraska, Cockrell, of 
Missouri, and Allison of Iowa. 

Gov. Stanard, of St. Louis, presided at the convention and W. H. Miller, of 
Kansas City, was secretary. It continued its session for two days, and adopted 
the following resolutions : 

Whereas, The Missouri Valley country, including two-thirds of Missouri, 
one-third of Iowa, and all of Kansas and Nebraska, but not Dakota and part of 
Montana, which might be properly added, embraces an area of over 215,000 
square miles, contains a population of 4,000,000 people and a taxable wealth of 
$700,000,000, produces annually nearly 500,000,000 bushels of grain, and is in- 
creasing in population, wealth and productiveness at a rate not less than five per 
cent per annum. And 

Whereas, Water transportation is the cheapest known to commerce, and 
can be supplied to the commerce of this vast area of country by the Missouri 
River, which is naturally one of the most easily navigated rivers in the world, for 
ten months in the year, and was prior to the creation of artificial obstructions, a 
great highway of commerce, and which with the removal of artificial and acciden- 
tal obstructions can be made available for economical craft, adequate to the wants 
of the country, whereby the cost of transportation will be reduced fully one-half, 
and landed property enhanced in value more than fifty per cent. 

Whereas, The banks of this river are composed of a rich alluvial soil, inad- 
equate to withstand the force of its current, whereby thousands of acres of 
valuable lands are annually swept away ; and 

Whereas, It has always been the policy of the General Government to ap- 
propriate money for the improvement of rivers and harbors, and to prevent the 
property of citizens from destruction by the incursive action of great streams ; 
having thus expended $200,000,000, of which but $657,500 have been expended 
on the Missouri River ; therefore. 

Resolved, That this convention, representing Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and 
Nebraska, most respectfully, but most earnestly, demand that Congress bestow 
upon the Missouri River a consideration commensurate with the magnitude of the 
interests to be served by its improvement, and immediately provide for a thorough 
remedy for all artificial obstructions it has permitted to be created by railway 
bridges, for the thorough removal of all accidental obstructions, such as snags and 
drifts of floating timber, and for a thorough survey of the river by competent 
engineers, with a view to determining the speediest and most economical plan of 
deepening its channel, and protecting the property of the citizens along its banks. 

Resolved, That we also demand that when such surveys shall have been made 
and such plans approved, that Congress shall make such appropriations and take 
such other action as will secure the speediest, permanent and adequate improve- 
ment of said river. 

Resolved, That in view of the magnitude of the interests to be served by such 
improvement, the additions thereby to result to the profits of industry and the 
value of landed property in the Missouri Valley, it is the judgment of this con- 
vention that devotion to such improvement should be a test of qualification for the 
ofiices of senator and representatives in Congress, Governor and members of 
State Legislatures. And, therefore, we would recommend to all political parties 
that they refuse to nominate for these ofiices men not known to be so devoted to 
this interest, and to the people that they refuse to support at the polls candidates 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



197 



who do not stand pledged to the public to hold this interest paramount, and to 
make all reasonable effort to secure the ends herein sought. 

Resolved, That for the purpose of inculcating this last resolution, to see that 
existing laws relating to bridges be observed, to collect and compile statistical and 
other information relating to the subject, and to impress upon representatives and 
senators in Congress the importance of the improvement desired, the convention 
proceed now to organize a permanent Missouri River Improvement Association 
which shall continue to keep alive this interest until the ends sought shall have 
been obtained. 

Resolved, That the president of this convention appoint a committee of three 
to prepare a memorial to Congress embodying the action of this convention and 
the policy demanded, to be forwarded when prepared to the officers of the respec- 
tive Houses of Congress, and to the senators and representatives from the States 
here represented. 

Resolved, That the survey of the Missouri River, now in progress and nearly 
completed from its mouth to Sioux City, should, in the opinion of this convention 
be continued up to Fort Benton, Montana. 

Before closing its session the convention organized a permanent association, 
to be known as the Missouri River Improvement Association, and elected the 
following list of officers : 

PRESIDENT. 

Col. Kersey Coates, Kansas City, Mo. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 



Hon. E. O. Standard, St. Louis, Mo. 
John A. Scudder, " " 

Dr. J. P. Root, Wyandotte, Kan. 
W. M. Fortescue, Leavenworth, Kan. 
John Hinman, Olathe, Kan. 
Hon. Charles Robinson, Douglas Co., 

Kan. 
P. B. Maxon, Emporia, Kan. 
John A. Martin, Atchson, Kan. 
S. J. Crawford, Topeka, Kan. 
Geo. W. Belt, St. Joseph, Mo. 
Gen. C. W. Blair, Fort Scott, Kan. 
J. R. Willis, Jeff"erson City, Mo. 
John 8. Elliott, Boonville, Mo. 



Col. John Reid, Lexington, Mo. 
Geo. R. Buckner, St. Charles, Mo. 
J. J. Hochsteder, Nebraska City, Neb. 
T. P. Kennard, Lincoln, Neb. 
J. S. Stockton, Wyandotte, Kan. 
John W. Chapman, Council Bluffs, la. 
Hon. Alvin Saunders, Omaha, Neb. 
P. P. Elder, Ottawa, Kan. 
Hon. T. D. Thacher, Lawrence, Kan. 
W. S. Catroll, Kansas City, Kan. 
W. R. Dryer, Abilene, Kan. 
H. J. Lathshaw, Kansas City, Mo. 
R. T. Van Horn, " 



SECRETARY. 

William H. Miller, Kansas Citv, Mo. 



Dr. J. P. Root, Wyandotte, Kan. 
W. M. Fortescue, Leavenworth, Kan. 
G. W. Belt, St. Joseph, Mo. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

Col. Kersey Coates, Kansas City, Mo 
H. J. Latshaw, " " " 

Col. R. T. Van Horn, '' " " 

E. O. Standard, St. Louis, Mo. 

It also appointed as a committee to prepare a memorial to Congress on the 
subject of the improvement of the river, Messrs. Col. R. T. Van Horn and W. 
H. Miller, of Kansas City; Dr. John Stringfellow, of St. Joseph; Hon. T. 
Dvvight Thacher, of Lawrence, and George L. Wright, of St. Louis. 

THE RECEPTION OF GEN. GRANT. 

In May it was ascertained that Gen. Grant would, in July make a long 
promised visit to Kansas City, and the people began to prepare for an appropriate 



198 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

reception for the distinguished soldier and ex-President. Meetings were held 
and a committee appointed. This committee, which was very large, appointed 
sub-committees on reception, banquet, finance, decoration, procession, transporta- 
tion, invitations and music, each of which entered at once on the discharge of its 
duties. Gen. Grant came on the morning of July 2d, and was met some dis- 
tance from the city on the Chicago & Alton Railroad by the reception commit- 
tee, consisting of Mayor C. A. Chace, Gen. John W. Reid, Col. R. T. Van 
Horn, J. M. Nave, Esq., President of the Board of Trade, Geo. H. Nettleton, 
L. R. Moore, J. D. S. Cook, Rev. Dr. Bell, Dr. D. P. Bigger, Col. J. H. Day- 
ton, Rev. Thos. Haggarty, Rev. B. F. Watson and Col. H. Wood, of Kansas 
City. J. T, Crowder, superintendent of Meriam Park ; Maj. A. Pickering, of 
Olathe; W. S. Chick, of Shawnee; S. N. Simpson, of Riverview ; D. B. 
Hadley, of Wyandotte; J. B. Albert, of Desota; J. B. Bruner, of Gardiner; 
Alexander Davis, of Spring Hill, and Rev. D. P. Mitchell, of Hutchins, 
Kansas. On the arrival of the party at the Union Depot, they were met by 
Gov. J. S. Phelps, of Missouri; Gov. J. P. St. John, of Kansas; Mayor Stockton, 
and Dr. J. P. Root, of Wyandotte; and other distinguished gentlemen from 
Kansas. The distinguished party, attended by many citizens of Kansas and 
Kansas City went to Meriam Park, a few miles from Kansas City, on the Fort 
Scott road, for the afternoon, and on this occasion that park was formally opened 
to the pubHc. Returning to the city the banquet was attended in the evening, 
and the next day there was a military and civic parade, which was reviewed by 
Gen. Grant from a stand erected for that purpose at the junction of Main and 
Delaware streets. The parade was an extensive and imposing affair. It was led 
by mounted police, followed by the band of the 19th U. S. infantry. Following 
this came the carriage drawn by four horses, containing Gen. Grant, Col. Van 
Horn, of Kansas City, and Gen. C. W. Blair, of Fort Scott, attended by a com- 
pany of Union veterans. The military companies followed, and there were in 
the procession, the Craig Rifles, of Kansas City; the Drought Rifles, of Wyan- 
dotte; Paola Rifles, of Paola; Saxton Rifles, of St. Joseph; Carthage (Mo.) 
Light Guards; Company K, Kansas Volunteers, from Council Grove; Capital 
Guards, from Topeka; Ottawa Cadets, a finely drilled company of boys; the 
Ottawa Rifles, Metropolitan Guards, of Leavenworth ; Missouri Guards, of Kan- 
sas City; St. John Battery, and Winfield Rifles, of Winfield, Kansas; the St. 
John Guards (colored), of Lawrence, Kansas. The fire departments of Kansas 
City and Wyandotte and a long line of civic exhibitors, beside numerous bands 
of music, among which was the Dolby Female Band, of Independence, Kansas. 
The stands along the line of march were elaborately decorated with flags and 
flowers. 

For two days the people of Kansas City, and the numerous visitors from 
Kansas and Missouri, gave themselves up to the enjoyment of the occasion, and 
made it it one of the most notable affairs in the history of the city. 

THE CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN. 

So far in this history it has not been deemed necessary to refer to the con- 
flicts or triumphs of political parties, except in a general way to the conflict about 
slavery in Kansas, and that of i860 leading to the great war of the rebellion. 
The contest for member of Congress from this, the Eighth district of Missouri, 
during the fall of 1880 had more than ordinary significance, and may properly 
enter into this history. The district contains about 23,000 voters, of which nearly 
two-thirds are Democrats. From 1870 to 1878 that party had uniformally elected 
the member of Congress by large majorities. In 1878, however, a division had 
arisen in the party, which resulted in a revolt against the regular nominee. Col. 
John T. Crisp, and the presenting of Judge Samuel L. Sawyer, of Independence, 
as an independent Democratic candidate. He was more accepable to the Re- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 199 

publicans than Col. Crisp, and as the choice lay between them, the Republicans 
voted for Judge Sawyer, and he was elected. In 1880 a division again arose, 
and Col. Crisp, of Independence, and Hon. D. C. Allen, of Liberty, were both 
presented by the Democratic party under such circumstances that one seemed to be 
about as much the regular candidate of the party as the other. This situation 
gave the Republicans hope, and on the 7th of October they nominated Col. R, 
T. Van Horn, believing that his long and faithful devotion to the commercial 
interests of Kansas City and the Missouri Valley, would give him greater strength 
with the people than any other candidate they might nominate. His canvass 
was made as a business man's canvass against mere politicians, and his election 
was urged specially on account of his services to this section when in Congress 
from 1866 to 1870, and on account of his well-known devotion to the improve- 
ment of the Missouri River. The result was his election by a plurality of seven 
hundred and thirty-nine, and it has always been construed as the verdict of the 
business men of Kansas City and the district in favor of a business representative 
rather than merely a political one. It was the first fruit of the third resolution 
of the River Improvement Convention in September. 

THE PROVIDENT ASSOCIATION. 

The idea of a provident association, for the relief of worthy poor, presented 
itself again in the fall of 1880, and on the 22d of November such an association 
was organized, with Col. T. S. Case, President ; George H. Nettleton, Vice-Presi- 
dent; C. S. Wheeler, Secretary; W. P. AUcut, Treasurer, and F. M. Furgason, 
Superintendent. During the winter it collected and distributed several thousand 
dollars and relieved much distress. 

THE RAILROADS. 

Movements in railroad matters affecting Kansas City were very active dur- 
ing the year 1880, as they had been during 1879. The new roads built were the 
Lexington & Southern, from Pleasant Hill, on the Missouri Pacific, to Nevada, 
on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas. It has since been consolidated with the Mis- 
souri Pacific, and trains are now run from Kansas City by that route over the M., 
K. & T. to Texas. The Manhattan, Alma & Burlingame road was built in Kan- 
sas from Burlingame, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, to Manhattan, on 
the Union Pacific. The Fort Scott road built a branch from Prescott, Kansas, 
to Rich Hill, Missouri, to reach the coal fields of Bates county, Missouri. This 
road also built the long-desired switch from the main line near Turkey Creek 
into the southern part of the city. The Wabash road built a line into Chicago in 
July, thus adding a fourth through line between Kansas City and Chicago ; and 
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe extended its main line west, reaching 
El Paso, New Mexico, soon after the close of the year. In March, 1881, this 
road connected with the Southern Pacific, of California, making a second trans- 
continental line by way of Kansas City, but it has not, at this writing, been 
opened for trans- continental business. The Fort Scott road also built part of the 
line between Fort Scott and Springfield, and decided to extend this line to Mem- 
phis, Tennessee. There were also some other extensions, but nothing very im- 
portant. 

There were many changes in lines already existing. The Central Branch 
Union Pacific west from Atchison became a division of the Missouri Pacific, in 
January, and was afterward, in March, consolidated with the Union Pacific. 
Later in the year the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs road was sold to 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern 
to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. And in May the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas was leased for ninety-nine years by the Missouri Pacific, and virtually con- 
solidated with it. In February the general offices of the Union Pacific were con- 



200 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

solidated and located at Omaha, and in May the long-contended-for through rates 
to the Pacific Ocean by this Hne were granted Kansas City. 

A number of new enterprises were also inaugurated. The first of these was 
the revival of the old Memjjhis road. The Kansas City party by Avhom this in- 
terest had been bought, sold it in December, 1879, to Messrs. Lyman and Cross, 
of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, but they failed to execute the con- 
tract. It was again contracted in January to Mr. j. I. Brooks and friends, by 
whom it was re-organized as the Kansas City & Southern, in June. This company 
was composed of Theodore Welderbald, W. P. Campbell, John E. Young, and 
John Sidle, of Illinois, Lloyd B. Fuller, of Emporia, Kansas, and E. L. Martin, 
of Kansas City. Besides a few surveys, nothing was done during the year, but 
early in 1881 the company was re-organized, a new contract was made for the 
property, the capital stock of the company increased, and its early continuation 
provided for. In January, 1880, the Wyandotte, Oskaloosa & Western Narrow 
Gauge Company was organized in Wyandotte, but it did nothing and soon be- 
came quiescent. In March the Union Transit Company was organized in Kan- 
sas City for the purpose of taking charge of and facilitating switching among the 
various companies operating here. A large amount of land was purchased west 
of the Kaw River for yards, but they have not yet been put into operation. The 
Directors of this company were Geo. H. Nettleton, Col. C. F. Morse, J. S. 
Ford, T. F. Oaks, and Wallace Pratt. In April the Des Moines & Kansas City 
Railroad Company was organized in Des Moines, Iowa, for the purpose of build- 
ing a line to Kansas City, and it is now at work making its survey. In Decem- 
ber the Kansas City Railway Company was organized in Kansas City, with T. 
B. Bullene, President, and J. N. Finley, Secretary. This company proposes to 
build a road from Kansas City by way of Baldwin City, Osage City, and Council 
Grove to Salina, Kansas About the same time the Kansas City, Nebraska, and 
Northwestern Railroad Company was organized in Kansas City with Col. K. 
Coates, President, W. H. Miller, Secretary, S. B. Armour, Treasurer, and T. J. 
Lynde, general manager. It proposes to build a road from Kansas City, by way 
of Oskaloosa and Valley Falls, Kansas, to Falls City, Nebraska. 

This year was not destitute of the annual railway war. This was brought 
about by the opening of the new Wabash line into Chicago, in July, though 
hostilities did not break out until October i6th. The fight raged with great 
fierceness for a few days, when it was temporarily stopped only to break out 
again in a few weeks with increased violence. It soon involved the roads leading 
to St. Louis, and before the close of the year the roads east of Chicago and St. 
Louis, and became far more general than any previous war. 

THE GREAT FLOOD OF APRIL, 1 88 1. 

The chief event of interest since the close of 1880, except as already men- 
tioned, was the flood of April, 1881, which was the greatest rise in the river at 
Kansas City since 1844, and at points above was reported greater than that cele- 
brated flood. The winter preceding had been unusually long and cold, having 
begun at Kansas City about the 20th of November, nearly one month earlier than 
usual. There was also an unusual snowfall throughout the Missouri Valley. In 
the latter part of March the weather became as warm as was due to the season in 
a few days' time, and the snows in Kansas aftd Nebraska were converted into 
water, flooding some parts of the latter State and doing much damage. Early in 
April the water from this source reached the Missouri River and caused it to rise 
to within a few inches of the highest point reached since 1844, when the water 
subsided for a few days. It began to rise again in the upper river about the 
middle of April, flooding Omaha and other up-river places, and doing much 
damage. This rise soon reached Kansas City. On the 26th it broke over a levee 
that had been built to protect the bottom lands opposite the city, and the bottom 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 201 

became flooded. At this time nearly all the bottom lands from Sioux City to 
Kansas City were under water, the river in most places presenting the appearance 
of a great lake from four to ten miles wide. There were many fine farms inun- 
dated, and thousands of people left their homes in boats where such water had 
never been known before, since the settlement of the country. About the 25th 
of April it began to threaten the western part of Kansas City, and parties went 
to work at low places throwing up embankments to prevent its breaking over into 
the streets. This work was ineffectual, however, for on the 28th it flooded a 
large part of the "bottoms," as it is called, surrounded the packing houses and 
disabled several elevators, among which were "A," Union, and State Line, in the 
west bottoms. At this time the river covered the entire bottom north of the city. 
Harlem was submerged, part of the houses washed away, and railroad operations 
on that side of the river suspended. Part of the embankment leading to the 
bridge was washed away, together with nearly three miles of the track of the 
Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad, while the Hannibal and 
Wabash were much injured. The Hannibal and Rock Island roads, however, 
continued to operate to Randolph Bluffs, making' the connection to Kansas City 
by steamboat, while the Wabash transferred its business to the Chicago & Alton. 
The Missouri Pacific was, for a time, unable to reach Kansas City with its trains, 
and the Union Pacific used the track of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe from 
Topeka, in consequence of the inundation of its track between Armstrong and 
the Kaw River. Armourdale, lying in the vicinity of this road on the west side 
of the Kaw River, was completely flooded. Still the water continued to rise and 
at its highest point, which it attained on the 30th of April, it stood twenty-seven 
feet above low water mark. The people from a large part of West Kansas, lying 
south of Ninth street and between Wood street, Kansas City, Kansas, and the 
bluff at the Advance Elevator, had to leave their homes, and for a time large 
numbers of them were quartered in the Exposition buildings. The destitution 
and suffering caused by this fact was very great, aside from the loss of prop- 
erty, and relief measures became necessary. About five thousand dollars were 
raised for this purpose. After the 30th of April the water subsided rapidly, and 
by the 3d of May had withdrawn from the lowest part of the city, and within ten 
days afterward the railroads were so far repaired that trains were resumed as 
usual. This flood has been suggestive of the necessity of preparing for the pro- 
tection of the lower part of the city, which subject was soon afterward brought to 
the attention of the council by a message from the mayor. 

THE GROWTH OF THE CITY. 

During 1880, and up to the present time in 1881, the growth of the city was 
as rapid as in 1878 and 1879. The United States census of 1880 accredited 
Missouri Valley cities with populations as follows :' 

Kansas City proper 55)8i3 

Kansas City and adjoining towns included in the same com- 
mercial city 62,977 

Leavenworth 16,550 

Atchison 15,106 

St. Joseph 32,484 

Council Bluffs 18,059 

Omaha 30,518 

Topeka i5>45i 

The growth of business in Kansas City during 1880 is best shown in the 
clearing house statement, which, for 1879, ^^^s $68,280,251.55, and for 1880 
$101,330,000.00. Real estate transfers this year were $5,467,900 as against 



202 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



$3,604,072 for 1879, and the following new additions were added to the place 
during the year and the first three months of 1881 : 

January 6, '80 — Armstrong's Addition. 

January 20, '80 — J. L. Brown's Sub-division. 

February 7, '80 — Murdock's Addition. 

February 28, '80 — Smart's Partition No. i. 

February 28, '80 — Smart's Partition No. 2. 

February 28, '80 — Smart's Partition No. 3. 

March 30, '80 — P. S. Brown's Addition. 

March 3, '80 — Loring's Sub-division. 

March 12, '80 — Hope & Twitchell's Sub-division. 

March 18, '80 — Aldine Place Sub-division. 

March 18, '80 — Adam's First Addition. 

June I, '80 — R. G. Estill's Re-survey. 

June 25, '80 — Primrose Hill Sub-division. 

March 22, '80 — S. C. Moody's Sub-division. 

March 22, '80 — Whipple's First Addition. 

March 30, '80 — Bellmere Place Addition. 

March 30, '80 — Hazzard Place Sub-division. 

April T, '80 — Austin's Addition. 

April 2, '80 — B. E. Dye's Sub-division. 

April 28, '80 — Woman's Addition. 

May 5, '80 — Phelps Place Addition. 

June 12, '80 — P. S. Brown's Re-survey. 

October 2, '80 — City Park Addition. 

October 5, '80 — Dudley & Cook's Addition. 

October 13, '80 — Whipple's Second Addition. 

December 29, '80 — Clatanoff & Stowe's Re-survey. 

December 13, '80 — Brown & Brook's Sub-division. 

January 19, '81 — Winningham's Sub-division. 

January 20, '81 — Ellison & Murdock's Addition. 

January 20, '81 — Murdock's Sub-division. 

January 25, '81 — Re-survey Payne's Addition. 

February i, '81 — Cosby's Addition. 

February 28, '81 — Commissioner's Plat Payne's Addition. 

March 7, '81 — Amended Plat of Hyde & Foster's Addition. 

March 14, '81 — Forest Place Sub-division. 

March 15, '81 — William Askew's Sub-division. 

March 15, '81 — Haefner's Second Addition. 

March 22, '81 — Haefner's First Addition. 

March 30, '81 — Forest Home Addition. 

A STATISTICAL EXHIBIT. 

The following statistical exhibit will show at a glance the growth of Kansas 
City since its beginning : 

POPULATION. 
STATEMENT showing the population of Kansas City at different periods. 



1838 300 

1846 700 

1855 300 

1857 2,000 

1858 5,185 

1859 8,000 

1865 5,000 

1870 32,260 



187 1 36,000 

1872 40,115 

1873 40,740 

1877 41,786 

1878 50,126 

1879 • • . 60,372 

1880 62,977 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



203 



WEALTH. 
STATEMENT showing the assessed valuation of Kansas City at different periods. 



1846 $ 500,000 

1858 1,802,000 

1861 1,814,320 

1862 1,448,284 

1863 1,313,790 

1864 1,698,460 

1865 1,922,670 

1866 3,587,875 

1867 3,710,813 

1868 5,978,068 

1869 8,408,111 



1870 
1871 

1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 

1877 
1878 
1879 



$ 9,629,455 
10,191,910 
10,957,250 
12,708,290 

12,357,730 
11,728,750 
8,923,190 
9.370,287 
9,092,320 
10,706,660 
13,378,950 



Note— The decline from 1873 to 1876 was due to changes in standard of valuation. 

CLEARINGS. 
STATEMENT showing the clearings of the Kansas City Clearing House, by months, for a 

series of years. 





1876. 


1877. 


1878. 


1879. 


1880. 


January .... 


$ 5,156,094 03 


? 7,137,32946 


$ 5,971,704 01 


$ 4,604,911 00 


$ 8,009,700 00 


February 




4,566,721 09 


4,704,922 97 


1,471,811 18 


4,286,200 13 


6,285,100 00 


March . 




4,302,291 87 


5,463,610 38 


2,052,400 00 


4,405,301 00 


7,412,600 00 


April . . 




4,605,502 34 


5,270,327 02 


2,283,800 00 


4,092,101 10 


7,116,600 00 


May . . 




4,664,984 17 


5,206,200 86 


2,361,312 14 


5,052,501 II 


7,642,600 00 


June . . 




5,742,539 II 


5,256,514 19 


1,924,740 00 


4,713,70000 


7,713,600 00 


July . . . 




4,769,684 32 


5,112,38932 


2,696,111 34 


4,696,901 21 


7,780,400 00 


August . 




4,448,729 19 


5,548,123 17 


2,235,213 64 


5,601,400 00 


8,039,400 00 


September. . . 


5,504,501 35 


6,337,525 72 


3,390,711 23 


6,252,200 00 


8,092,200 00 


October .... 


6,915,521 82 


6,892,287 14 


5.533,511 00 


9,087,200 00 


9,684,900 00 


November . . . 


5,857,91892 


6,129,097 17 


5,542,801 01 


7,215,700 00 


11,772,900 00 


December . . . 


6,306,420 55 


6,154,684 II 


5,236,201 01 


8,271,836 00 


11,830,000 00 


Total. . . . 


$62,840,608 76 


369,213,011 51 


Mi, 000,3 1 7 56 


$68,280,251 55 


$101,330,000 00 



INTERNAL REVENUE. 



STATEMENT showing the amount of Internal Revenue paid to the Government by Kas- 

sas City for a series of years. 



On what 
Account. 



Beer . . . 
Cigars . . 
Tobacco . 
Licenses 
Banks . . 
Spirits . . 
Penalties 



1875. 



9,114 10 

11,717 00 

28,877 09 

11,669 00 

3,708 66 

7,059 20 



1876. 



11,642 50 
16,365 60 
22,054 56 
20,000 00 
5,52431 



1877. 



11,598 00 
16,911 65 

11.954 13 
11,384 00 

5-524 II 

14.155 10 

2,758 20 



1878. 



13,752 00 
16,107 50 
5,010 82 
11,110 00 
6,935 20 
4,740 00 
2,460 13 



1879. 



14,198 00 

21,922 00 

6,252 40 

14,264 16 

12,444 00 

6,600 00 

5,000 00 



$ 16,742 00 
26,530 60 

5.357 32 
17,78942 
28,712 14 

7,200 00 
420 00 



Total $ 72,144 95 $ 75,586 97 $ 74,285 19 $ 60,115 65 $ 80,680 56 $102,751 48 

TABLE SHOWING THE MOVEMENT OF FREIGHT FOR FOUR YEARS. 



Years. 


Received, 
Pounds. 


Forwarded, 
Pounds. 


1877 

1878 

1879 

1880 


1,852,900,694 

2,425,995,917 
3,188,710,298 
4,629,344,019 


1,621,900,538 
2,038,366,446 
2,739,752,881 
2,911,892, 163 



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HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 205 

CHAPTER XVII. 
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF KANSAS CITY. 

The History of the Press — Local Societies — Masons — Odd Fellows — Knights of Pythias — Other 
Secret Orders — The Churches, Schools and Social Institutions . 

" THE JOURNAL." 

The Journal was established by a stock company composed of William Gillis, 
W. S. Gregory, H. M. Northrup, J. S. Chick, M. J. Payne, Dr. B. Troost, E. 
M. McGee, Thompson McDaniels and Robt. Campbell, and made its first appear- 
ance in October, 1854, under the name of The Kansas City Enterprise, with D. 
K. Abeel, Esq., as printer and business manager, and William A. Strong, Esq., 
as editor. One previous attempt had been made by a Mr. Kennedy to establish 
a paper called the Public Ledger but it failed, and its failure led to the organization 
of the above named company. In October, 1855, Col. R. T. Van Horn pur- 
chased the paper and took editorial charge. In 1857 its name was changed to 
The Western Jourrial of Comtnerce. About this time Col. Van Horn took into co- 
partnership with him Mr. D. K. Abeel, who had remained with the paper from 
its first issue. In June, 1858, a telegraph line having been built from St. Louis 
to Boonville, Messrs. Van Horn & Abeel made arrangements for telegraphic 
reports, receiving them by express from Boonville, and established a daily edition, 
which made its first appearance on the 15th of June, 1858. In the summer of 
i860 Col. Van Horn sold his interest in the paper to Mr. Abeel, but continued 
his editorial connection with it until the war broke out in 1861. Mr. Abeel con- 
tinued the publication of the paper as sole proprietor until June 14, 1863, when 
he sold it to T. Dwight Thacher, now editor of the Lawrence, Kansas, fournal. 
It was suspended, on account of the war, March 7th, 1861, and continued sus- 
pended for about a year, though it was issued as a daily news bulletin from May 
i6th to August 20th, 1861. March 23d, 1865, Mr. Thacher sold the paper, 
Col. Van Horn and A. H. Hallowell being the purchasers. 

On the 2d of March, 1867, Col. Van Horn having been elected to Congress, 
retired from the paper, and on the 28th of April following, Mr. Hallowell sold it 
to Messrs. Foster, Wilder & Co. On the 9th of March, 1870, Col. Wilder was 
shot and killed by James Hutchinson, about a personal matter, and Mr. Abeel 
again became connected with the paper by the purchase of the interests held by 
Col. Wilder and Smith Baker. On the 30th of August, 1871, Col. Van Horn 
purchased the interest of C. G. Foster, and on the 15th of February, 1872, the 
Journal Company was organized and incorporated under the State laws. Col. 
Van Horn continuing as editor, Mr. Abeel continued as business manager until 
August 9th, 1872, when he disposed of his stock in the company and was succeed- 
ed by Isaac P. Moore, Esq. Mr. Abeel, Chas. N. Brooks, M. H. Stevens and W. 
A. Bunker purchased a controlling interest in the paper and took charge of it 
August 8th, 1877, Col. Van Horn retaining his interest and continuing as editor- 
in-chief. On the loth of January, 18S1, Messrs. Abeel, Brooks and Bunker 
retired, and A. J. Biethen became business manager. 

Since its first issue, under Col. Van Horn's management, in October, 1855, 
the Journal has been an able and influential paper. From that date it became 
thoroughly and fully devoted to Kansas City's commercial development, and has 
since been a most potent and watchful advocate. During the years interven- 
ing prior to the war its columns teemed with projects and schemes for the ad- 



206 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

vancement of the city, and among these was outlined and developed every rail- 
road project which Kansas City has realized. And in subsequent years it has been 
none the less ardent and devoted in the development of other projects calculated 
to advance Kansas City's commercial welfare. At the same time it has always 
stood prominent as a newspaper, careful and consistent in its positions, and 
newsy, without being sensational. It was Democratic until the war, and sup- 
ported Douglas, in i860, since which time it has been one of the leading Repub- 
lican papers of Missouri. 

Its stock is now $40,000, and during the past year has sold at a high premi- 
um. It owns Its own building, an elegant structure on the corner of Sixth and 
Delaware streets, worth probably $50,000. It is issued daily, tri-weekly, and 
weekly, and has a very large circulation, considering the population of the city 
in which it is published, the daily alone averaging nearly 10,000 per day. To 
print this large edition it now runs a Scott-Webb Perfecting press, the third of 
its kind set up in the United States. It receives the paper in a continuous roll, 
prints it on both sides from stereotyped plates at the rate of 15,000 per hour, and 
delivers it folded for the mail or carrier. The position of the Journal in public 
esteem is unsurpassed by any western paper, and in influence, character, and 
circulation, it stands at the head of Missouri Valley journals. 

THE "KANSAS CITY TIMES." 

On Tuesday morning, September 8, 1868, the first number of The Kansas 
City Times was issued. In starting the Times there was experienced that risk 
which every journalist that attempts to establish a new paper, encounters. For 
some time after its first issue the venture did not prove a succeess financially, but 
its later managers possessing a determination to succeed, in time placed it on a 
solid foundation. 

The first paper was an eight-column folio, the size of the sheet being 26^x 
44 inches. At its head it bore the national Democratic ticket for president and 
vice-president, and also for State officers. B. R. Drury & Co., were proprietors. 
On December 22, 1868, the paper changed hands, and a company was organized 
under the name of The Kansas City Times Publishing Company Messrs. Wm. 
E. Dunscombe, Chas. Durfee, J. D. Williams and R. B. Drury were elected 
directors. Mr. Williams served as business manager, and Messrs. John C, 
Moore and John N. Edwards, editors. In April of 1869, Mr. James E. Mc- 
Henry was installed business manager, and held the position until June 28th of 
the same year, when he was succed by C. E. Chichester. On September 29th, 
1869, the office was removed to the corner of Fifth and Main streets, and on 
February 20th, 1870, the company was dissolved and the paper sold at public 
sale. Mr. Chas. Dougherty, of Independence, together with John C. Moore 
and John N. Edwards, were the purchasers. The paper moved along with vary- 
ing fortunes until the 20th of August, 1871, when it again changed hands, and 
passed under the management that has controlled it since that time. Amos 
Green was elected president ; Thos H. Mastin, treasurer, and M. Munford, sec- 
retary and general manager of the new company. John N. Edwards was made 
editor-in-chief. In September of that year the Times removed to commodious 
quarters on Missouri avenue, betweeen Main and Delaware streets. On January 
3d, 1872, the paper appeared in a new dress and enlarged to a nine-column folio. 
With that issue an extensive review of Kansas City was given in a supplement. 
The great panic of '73 was safely passed, and after the gloomy days the Times 
smiled happy and serenely. In April, 1872, Messrs. Mastin transferred their 
interests to Messrs. Green and M. Munford, and later Mr. J. E. Munford 
acquired an interest. In May of 1875, Mr. Green sold his interest to Messsrs. 
Munford. The "Old Titnes Publishing Company" was then dissolved, and on 
November 29, 1875, the property was transferred to the present organization, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 207 

♦'The Kajisas City Times Company," which Messrs. Munford, in connection with 
Mr. Samuel Williams, had organized. Upon the retirement of the latter in 1878 
his stock was purchase by the company. The directors of the company after 
Mr. Williams' retirement were James E. Munford, Morrison Munford and Chas. 
E. Hasbrook; and the officers were James E. Munford, President; M. Munford, 
Secretary and General Manager; and Chas. E. Hasbrook, Vice-President and 
Business Manager. 

The enterprise of the Times has been marked. It was the originator of the 
great Oklahoma movement for the purpose of opening up the Indian Territory ; 
m 1876 it published a nine column twenty page review of Kansas City; it con- 
trolled a special train carrying its own papers containing the proceedings of the 
Kansas Legislature, between Kansas City and Topeka ; on the 15th of Septem- 
ber, of the Centennial year, it established a branch office at Denver, Colorado, 
publishing a Colorado edition during the presidential campaign ; and previous to 
the nomination of a Democratic candidate for the Presidency 1876, it published 
an edition in St. Louis in opposition to the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden. 
These wonderful enterprises characterized the Times as the New York Herald of 
the west. 

On the 20th of August of the present year, the Tirnes will have been under 
the sole control and management of the present general manager for ten consec- 
utive years. From a mere shell of a newspaper when he took it in August 1871, 
it has grown and increased steadily, keeping pace with the growth of the city 
and section until now it is pre-eminently one of the "institutions" of Kansas 
City. It occupies its own building on Fifth street between Main and Delaware, 
where it has one of the finest counting-rooms in the city — and a thoroughly 
equipped outfit of machinery, presses, etc., required to publish its immense cir- 
culation. It is a newspaper estabUshment that any city of 100,000 inhabitants 
might well feel proud of. 

THE KANSAS CITY "MAIL." 

The Evening Mail Publishing Company was incorporated as a stock company 
May 4th, 1875, by a few prominent business men of Kansas City, with E. L. 
Martin as President and John C. Gage as Treasurer, having for its object the 
publication of a journal opposed to the movements of the water works clique as 
it then existed. Col. John C. Moore was acting editor-in-chief. 

In April, 1876, Mr. E. L. Martin resigned his official connection with the 
company, M. James T. Kelley being elected to the vacancy. John C. Gage and 
T. V. Bryant also resigned as directors, their places being supplied respectively 
by Col. John C. Moore and Frank Grice. Messrs. Moore, Kelley and Grice, all 
practical newspaper men, having come into possession of the stock, were pub- 
lishers and proprietors of the Evening Mail. 

On April 29th, 1876, a re-organization of the company was effected, and at 
a meeting of the directory John C. Moore was elected President, Frank Grice 
Secretary, while J. T. Kelley held as Director and Business Manager. 

On the 7th of May, 1877, Joseph B. Strickland was admitted to the com- 
pany, and held the practical position of foreman of the mechanical department 
and was elected director. Meantime Mr. Grice had retired, his stock having 
passed through W. Scott Ford to Strickland. Col. Moore was yet president of the 
company, while the secretaryship had fallen to J. T. Kelley, upon the retirement 
of Frank Grice. On the above date the title of the company was changed to 
'' The Mail Publishing Company," the word " Evening " at the same time disap- 
pearing from the title page of the paper. At a meeting held November 2 2d, 
1877, Col. Moore resigned his connection and retired from the Mail, having 
assigned his stock to Messrs. Strickland & Kelley. Mr. J. B. Strickland was 
chosen president and Mr. A. D. Gerard secretary of the company. A new pro- 



208 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

prietorship was effected December 3, 1877, by the purchase from Messrs. Kelley 
& Strickland of a controlling interest in the stock by Messrs. A. A. Whipple and 
T. Ambert Haley, the latter becoming president and Mr. Strickland, who still 
held an interest, being secretary. The organization took on a better working 
shape than it had presented since the first few months of its history, and the for- 
ward movement of the paper indicated the results. Mr. Haley took active 
position as business manager, Mr. Whipple as treasurer, and Mr. Strickland as 
head of the typographical department. 

On the 6th of May, 1878, A. A. Whipple transferred a portion of his stock 
to his brothers, B. F. and Wayne Whipple, after which the organizatian stood as 
follows : 

Wayne Whipple, President. 

B. F. Whipple, Secretary. 

A. A. Whipple, Treasurer. 

Directors— A. A. Whipple, T. A. Haley and J, B. Strickland. 

Major W. W. Bloss was political editor, Wayne Whipple city editor and Mr. 
Haley, business manager. 

September 4, 1878, Mr. T. A. Haley and Whipple Bros, having sold their 
interests in the Kansas City Mail to S. M. Ford and Samuel Williams, Mr. Haley 
tendered his resignation as director and business manager. Mr. Ford was elected 
to these vacancies and the secretaryship. Messrs. Whipple also retired. On the 
day following an election was held with the following result : 

S. M. Ford, President. 

Samuel Williams, Secretary. 

Directors — S. M. Ford, Samuel Williams, J. B. Strickland. 

On the 20th of January, 1879, the interest of S. M. Ford was purchased by 
John C. Shea and Col. Williams, and a few months later the interest of J. B. 
Strickland was bought by W. L. Campbell. 

The organization of the Mail Publishing Company, as it now exists, is John 
C. Shea, President; Samuel Williams, Secretary. Directors — Samuel Williams, 
John C. Shea, W. P. Campbell. The above gentlemen occupy the following posi- 
tions on the paper : 

Samuel Williams, Editor. 

John C. Shea, Business Manager. 

W. L. Campbell, City Editor. 

The growth of the Mail has been remarkable. In the winter of 1878-9 the 
Mail suffered severely from the effects of fire. The present management found 
the material of the paper in ashes and cinders. The expense of fitting up a re- 
spectable place of business on Missouri avenue was considerable, but the increase 
of business in the spring and summer of 1879 cleared the office of indebtedness 
and left a margin for future operations. So flattering was the outlook in the be- 
ginning of the present year that a new three-revolution Hoe press was ordered 
and a removal to a more commodious building determined upon. 

The J/<?z7 is now issued from its new office in the "Mail Building," 115 
West Sixth street. 

THE EVENING STAR. 

Recognizing the fact that Kansas City had become a metropolis and should 
have metropolitan adjuncts, Messrs. M. R. Nelson and S. E. Morss, formerly 
proprietors of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Sentinel, came to this city in the fall of 1880 
and established The Evening Star, a low priced afternoon journal, similar in size 
and style to those which have proved so popular and profitable in all the other 
large cities of the country. The first number of The Evening Star appeared on 
the 1 8th of September. The paper was a success from the beginning, and at 
once secured a very large circulation. This has constantly increased, and the 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 209 

business of the paper has grown so rapidly that on the first of March it was en- 
larged and removed to more commodious and convenient quarters at No. 14 
West Fifth street, where it is at present located. 

The Evening Star has achieved a remarkable success, which its publishers 
ascribe to the fact that it is enterprising, thoroughly independent in politics, and 
furnished at a very low price. It is now well established on a firm basis, and is 
universally recognized as one of the institutions of Kansas City. 

"the price current and live stock record." 

The history of this paper has been the history of the commercial growth of 
Kansas City and the live stock interest of the New West. The driving of Texas 
cattle to Kansas having reached such importance by 1871 as to attract capital 
and general attention that a publication in support of this growing trade was sug- 
gested, the Drover, a small folio paper, was started under the auspices of the rail- 
roads, Frank L. Hise, editor. It ran eighteen months, when it changed hands. 
Henry Dickson took it and changed its name to the Cattle Trail, making a more 
general advocate of the live stock business tributary to this market. In 1874 it 
was again sold, E. W. Perry, now of Chicago, becoming its purchaser. Our 
jobbing commission trade had grown by this time to considerable importance. 
Messrs. Perry & Co. made their paper more general in character and called it 
the Price Current and Live Stock Reporter. The paper at once took its stand 
among the first commercial journals of the west, and soon made for itself a high 
reputation. In 1875, the publishers, Messrs. Ramsey, Millett & Hudson, pur- 
chased a half interest, and the year following, bought full control. Charles E. 
Hasbrook, now business manager of the Kansas City Times, was given its busi- 
ness management and A. D. Simons became its editor, and the paper was 
steadily pushed forward. It had by this time won for itself a permanent place 
among the leading papers of its kind in the west and the recognized exponent of 
trade matters and the live stock interest of this section. It was enlarged to a six 
column folio in 1876, and in the fall of 1879 changed into a six column quarto 
and enlarged its scope, the rapid settling up of the country west of us and its 
development opening up new fields of labor and necessitating a broader conduct 
of the paper. All matters pertaining to the material interest of the New West is 
now touched upon. The blooded stock and agricultural interests receive in- 
creased attention and commercial matters are more liberally treated. 

About the beginning of the year 1878, Messrs. Hasbrook and Simons both 
withdrew and Cuthbert Powell, Esq., took charge of the editorial management 
of the paper and has conducted its columns since, with constantly increasing 
interest. 

"the commercial indicator." 

This publication was established on the 4th day of April, 1878, by Messrs. 
Etue, Holmes & Simons, as a six-column commercial journal, giving special at- 
tention to the grain, live stock and produce markets of Kansas City, and the live 
stock and agricultural interests of the country commercially tributary thereto. 
Messrs. Etue and Simons, who had special charge of the editorial conduct of the 
paper, were both well known in the city as superior commercial reporters, both 
having, at difterent times, filled that department of the Kansas City Times, and 
Mr. Simons more lately having been identified with the Price Current. AVith 
such a start, and with such editors, the new journal was successful from the first 
beyond the expectations of its publishers. They owned and conducted a job 
printing office, in connection with the publication of the Indicator until the first 
of December, 1878, when the copartnership was dissolved, Mr. Holmes retiring 
and taking the job office, leaving the Indicator to Messrs. Etue and Simons. 
About three weeks afterward the ofiice was destroyed by fire, but such was the 
energy and enterprise of the publishers that they procured new material, and 

14 




BANK BUILDING, CORNER FIFTH AND DELAWARE STREETS. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 211 

continued their paper and the market circular issued in connection with it, without 
the loss of an issue. In April, 1879, ^^^ paper was enlarged to seven columns to 
the page, and since that time the pressure of has been accommodated by the use 
of smaller type, the publishers preferring this course to making their paper too 
large and unwieldly for the reader. 

In January, 1880, the Indicator published a very complete statistical re- 
view of the live stock and grain trades, and of the general commerce and trade 
of Kansas City. Its reports of the Kansas City markets are used daily by the 
Western Associated Press, and as authority on markets and commercial intelli- 
gence generally, it occupies a leading position among western commercial journals. 
It has now become a large and valuable interest, and like most of the great papers 
of the country, has been built up with its own earnings. Such is its standing 
that its opinions are freely quoted by the great dailies of St. Louis, Chicago, 
New York, and other cities. 

In addition to the Indicator, Messrs. Etue and Simons publish the Merchant's 
Exchange Daily Indicator and Daily Live Stock Report, both of which were estab- 
lished by Mr. P. D. Etue, in January, 1877. The Daily Live Stock Report v^a.^ 
the first publication of the kind in Kansas City, and is now the only one, though 
several others have been brought into existence and died, since it was established. 

"the KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY." 

This publication was first issued in February 1877 by Col. Theodore S. Case, 
and has been successfully maintained as a monthly scientific magazine. It is now 
in its fifth year in an enlarged and improved form. The idea of the publication 
was thus stated by the editor in the first issue. 

" The increasing taste for scientific study which now-a-days manifests itself 
among all classes of readers, and the evident impossibility of any considerable 
number of them being able to spare the time necessary to examine the score of 
journals and magazines devoted to its special branches and subjects, have given 
rise to the belief that a periodical consisting of a careful resume of the most im- 
portant inventions, discoveries and treaties of eminent, practical workers in the 
/ various departments of science and industry would be a convenience and of ser- 
vice to such persons, and might meet with sufficient encouragement to make it a 
success." * * * "As announced in our prospectus, this periodical will have 
for its object the popularizing of Science, and will be devoted to the interests of 
the artisan, the mechanic, the farmer and the household as well as of the more 
scientific reader." 

The Review has been carefully conducted with close reference to this idea, 
and has met with the approbation and support of many of the best and most 
prominent scientists of this country and of Europe, many of whom have con- 
tributed original articles to its columns. It has also been the recipient of a great 
many compliments from the most noted scientific magazines and journals of the 
world. 

Owing to the liberality of the Kansas City people, who feel it their duty, and 
make it a matter of pride to support every worthy enterprise originating here, it 
has succeeded beyond the publishers expectations, and is almost self-sustaining, 
the editor taking such pleasure in the work as to induce him to make up its 
deficiences rather than discontinue its publication. Being a western publication, 
devoted to western interests, research and discovery, and the exponent of wes- 
tern thought and western theories, it merits the cordial support of western people 
and ought to, and it is believed will, soon become a source of profit to its able and 
enterprising publisher. It is a sixty-four paged octavo monthly and is furnished 
to subscribers at two dollars and fifty cents a year, or twenty-five cents by the 
single number. 

Among its contributors daring the past year were Profs. G. C. Broadhead, G. 



212 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

C. Swallow, F. H. Snow, E. A. Popenoe, E. L. Berthoud, H. S. Pritchett, A. J. 
Coutant, T. B. Smith, F. W. Clarke, F. E. Nipher, J. T. Lovewell, E. T. Nuson, 
S. H. Trowbridge, Drs. Ivon D. Heath, A. S. Child, Chas. H. Sternberg, Geo. 
Halley, Col. R. T. Van Horn, and a large number of other western writers of 
more or less note, beside such eastern scientists as Prof. H. C. Bolton, Prof. C. 
V. Riley, Dr. S. W. Williston, Capt. H. W. Howgate, Isaac P. Noyes, Prof. 
O. T. Mason and Prof. John Rae, F. G. S., of London, and M. F. Connor, of 
Paris. 

"mirror of progress." 

This is a weekly journal devoted to the dissemination of philosophic free 
thought and scientific knowledge. It was established by David Eccles and E. P. 
West, of Kansas City, the first number being issued the 28th of June, 1879. The 
object was declared to be " To afford a channel for the unrestricted flow of honest 
opinion." "It will be devoted to science, art, literature, physics, metaphysics, 
philosophy, in a general sense, and whatever tends to an intelligent, honest indi- 
viduality, and independence of thought." "We are aware," they say, "of the 
grave responsibiUty we assume ; but, with the honest support of the lovers of truth, 
we hope to do something toward developing the good which is innate in our race, 
and to add in some degree to the happiness of mankind." 

Mr. Eccles retired from the paper with the twenty-second number on the 13th 
of December, 1879. In his valedictory he assigns as a reason for so doing, "the 
relentless strain of a prolonged financial depression compels me most reluctantly 
to sever my connection with this paper and at the same time bury a most flatter- 
ing ambition." 

The Mirror of Progress was continued under the management of Mr. West 
until Nov. 20, 1880, when Dr. A. J. Clark, of Indianapolis, Ind. , became asso- 
ciated with it under the name of Progress. Dr. Clark's association with the paper 
was very brief owing to the culmination of circumstances not anticipated when 
entering upon the work. His retirement left Mr. West again the sole heir to the 
venture. 

On the 17th of March, 1881, the transfer of the paper, under the old name 
of the Mirror of Progress, to Mrs. Mattie Parry Krekel and Mr. David Eccles, 
who was formerly associated with it, was consummated, and Mr. West's con- 
nection with it was severed after an association of more than twenty months from 
the beginning of the enterprise. Mr. West, on leaving the paper, said : 

" On the 28th day of June, 1879, niore than twenty months ago, the Mirror 
of Progress began its battle for existence amid opposing forces, sometimes envi- 
roned by trying difficulties, and has become firmly rooted in the vast field of 
journalism, and, I hope, in the affections of a generous people ; or those, at least, 
who seek, through mental freedom, the elevation and happiness of man. I have 
devoted my entire time as faithfully as I could, and without pecuniary compen- 
sation, besides the expenditure of large sums of money to establish ihe paper. 
In this I have succeeded; the Mirror of Progress is firmly fixed among the jour- 
nals of the day, and although I may not enjoy its fruits, it is no small satisfaction 
to know that I have planted and nourished to a vigorous growth in the west a 
journal devoted to the highest human aspiration, mental freedom and the amelio- 
ration of the human race. 

Mr. Eccles, on the 7th of May following, "retired," leaving Mrs. Krekel 
the sole owner and manager of the paper. Under her able management, the 
Mirror of Progress may be considered permanently fixed. She has the means as 
well as the inclination to continue its publication; and, although new in the edi- 
torial field, she has won an enviable distinction and greatly improved the paper 
in the limited time she has controlled it. By the inspiration of genius Mrs. 
Krekel has the happy faculty of saying just the right thing at the right time, and 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 213 

with the assurance that she will keep pace with the progressive tendencies of the 
age there is every assurance of success. 

THE WESTERN NEWSPAPER UNION. 

The Western Newspaper Union, 539 Delaware street, is one of the branches 
of a strong corporation, the principal office of which is located at Des Moines, 
Iowa. The company have a paid-up capital of $100,000, and have large and 
thoroughly equipped houses at Des Moines, Kansas City, Omaha, and St. Paul. 
They are now furnishing sheets to more than 400 newspapers in the great " New 
West," with an aggregate circulation of more than 200,000 copies weekly. In 
addition to this they have a large and rapidly increasing wholesale paper trade 
and an extensive and growing stereotyping business. The Kansas City house 
was established in 1877 by W. A. Bunker and others. When the present corpo- 
ration was formed, those associated with him retired from the concern and he was 
appointed manager. The business of this branch has increased to such an ex- 
tent as to render their present quarters inadequate, and a building is now being 
erected on the corner of Ninth and Ann streets for their use. This structure will 
be 30x120 feet and four stories high, with basement and sub-cellar. When com- 
pleted it will be one of the largest and most convenient printing establishments in 
the country. This enterprise will not absorb any part of the working capital of 
the Western Newspaper Union, the necessary funds being supplied from the pri- 
vate resources of two members of the corporation. 

The success of this concern furnishes another example of what may be ac- 
complished in the rapidly developing west when business ability and ample capi- 
tal are employed. Every member of this corporation is a practical newspaper 
man, and devotes his entire time and attention to the furthering of its interests. 
It is therefore not surprising that they have achieved a degree of success of 
which they may well be proud. 

The following history of the societies and churches in Kansas City has been 
compiled for this history by Mrs. J. D. Parker: 

CHURCH OF THE IMMACULOTE CONCEPTION. 

The early records of this church date back as far as 1834, when Father Ben- 
edict Roux had charge of the congregation, which had been previously organized 
by some Jesuit Fathers from St. Louis, probably in 1825. The church records 
of this earlier date were swept away in the great flood of 1844, and the earliest 
record now extant is of a baptism which was performed by Father Verrey in 
February, 1834. During the stay of Father Roux the first log church was built 
and served the needs of the scattering congregation embraced within an area of 
fully twenty square miles, for upward of twenty years. Father Bernard Don- 
nelly, the first stationary pastor of western Missouri,, was sent, in the summer of 
1845, to take charge of the mission at Independence and Kansas City, then 
known as Westport Landing. From this time the church developed slowly but 
steadily until, in 1857, the brick church at the corner of Broadway and Eleventh 
street was erected. After the close of the war the church rapidly increased in 
numbers and has developed in this direction up to the present time. The finan- 
cial condition of the church is good, the present valuation of the property, in- 
cluding the ten acres originally purchased by Father Roux, being $105,000. 
Within the past year a bishop has been appointed to reside in Kansas City, on 
account of the growing importance of this denomination. 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (SOUTH). 

This is one of the pioneer churches of Kansas City, being organized as early 
as 1845. Col. Chick, father of J. S. Chick, Mrs. Chick and James Hickman, 
were three of the five original members, none of whom are now hving. The 



214 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

first services were conducted at the residence of Col. Chick, and afterward in an 
old log school-house on the corner of Missouri avenue and Locust street. Not 
long after its organization the society purchased lots on the west side of Delaware 
street, near Fifth, for ninety dollars, and made preparations for the erection of a 
house of worship. The building was completed in 1852, and dedicated by Bishop 
Paine. This was the first house of worship built in Kansas City, and for several 
years was used by the various religious denominations for organization and wor- 
ship. The handsome brick edifice on Walnut street, now occupied by this 
society, was completed in 1879, ^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^ $35jOoo, and was dedicated the 
same year by Bishop Wightman. It is one of the finest church edifices in the 
city, handsomely furnished, and convenient of access. It will accommodate an 
audience of over 800, comfortably. This church is rapidly extending its influ- 
ence, during the past year having organized two churches, expending over $10,- 
000 for this purpose, and also secured property and commenced the erection of 
another building which will cost about $4,000. The membership is large, num- 
bering 400 at present, and steadily increasing. About $8,000 are annually con- 
tributed by this society for benevolent objects and incidental expenses, two mem- 
bers of the chuich giving $1,000 each for educational purposes. Among the 
pastors who have labored in the church are W. M. Leftwich, D. D. , J. W. 
Lewis, D. D., C. D. N. Campbell, D. D.,and S. S. Bryant, D. D. Rev. C. C. 
Woods, D. D., is the present pastor of the church, and his labors among his peo- 
ple have been abundantly successful. 

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. 

The First Baptist Church w-as organized April 21st, 1855, wath twelve charter 
members, whose names appear upon the church records in the following order : 
Robert Holmes, Mary A. Holmes, T. M. James, Sarah J. James, A. L. Martin, 
Elizabeth M. Martin, D. L. Mimms, Martha Lykins, Dr. J. Lykins, Julia Lykins, 
Rev. R. S. Thomas, Elvira Thomas. Before the erection of the first church 
edifice the regular services of the church were conducted alternately in the old 
court-house, and the school-house, or in some one of the different churches. In 
1858 the brick building at the corner of Eighth and May streets was erected at a 
cost of three thousand dollars, and was occupied until the completion of the 
new building in 1880. During the twenty years which have elapsed since the 
organization of the church, ten pastors have been connected with it: Rev. 
Robert Thomas, being the first, followed by R. S. Doolan, J. B. Fuller, J. W. 
Warder, Joseph Maple, F. M. Ellis, J. E. Chambliss, J. C. Bonham, C. Monjeau 
and J. E. Roberts, the present pastor. The new house of worship, on the south- 
west corner of Baltimore avenue and Twelfth street, was built by Col. W. H. 
Harris, of Cleveland Ohio, as a memorial of Stillman Witt, of Cleveland. It 
was dedicated February 15, 1881, by Rev. Dr. Bowker, and donated to the 
society free of all encumbrance. The church is built in the Elizabethan style, is 
richly finished and handsomely furnished, and has a seating capacity of over four 
hundred. The church has steadily increased in numbers, the present member- 
ship being two hundred and fifty. The Sabbath school is in a prosperous condi- 
tion, having an average attendance of nearly two hundred. The annual contribu- 
tion of the church amounts to four thousand dollars. 

CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

The Central Presbyterian Church, in its original elements and orgaijization, 
dates with the year 1857. A preliminary meeting was held in the old Barclay 
residence then standing on the bluff, near the southeast corner of Delaware and 
Third streets, and at that time a petition was agreed upon to be presented to the 
Presbytery of Lafayette, asking for the appointment of a commission to organize 
a Presbyterian church at Kansas City — the pioneer of its denomination. In re- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 215 

sponse to this request, and by appointment of Presbytery, Revs. Symington and 
Bracken met with the original members first constituting the church and com- 
pleted its organization in May, 1857, at the old Seminary home of Prof. Thomas, 
now remaining between Delaware and Wyandotte, on Fifteenth street. About 
two-thirds of this first membership are yet living, and re^iain members of the 
present Central Church. Rev. Robert S. Symington, now residing in California, 
was the first minister who served the congregation, continuing about three years, 
and was followed by Rev. John Hancock, Rev. George Miller and Rev. Robert 
Scott, with others, filling up the period to 1865, when Rev. J. L. Yantis, D. D. 
(now a resident of Lafayette county. Mo.), was invited to preach and finally took 
charge of the church in October, 1865, with encouraging prospects. The mem- 
bership had increased from the original ten or twelve to almost fifty at the begin- 
ning of the year 1866. The first house of worship regularly occupied was located 
on Third street, between Main and Walnut, which, after several years, be- 
came unsuitable, services being for a time held in other places; and the congre- 
gation were worshiping in Long's Hall, on Main street, when a lot was procured, 
and, during the ministry of Dr. Yantis, a comfortable frame church was erected 
on Grand avenue near Ninth street. About this time a number of members sep- 
arated from this church, forming a new organization, now known as the First 
Presbyterian church, and which consequently participates in a common history 
up to that time. In 1868, Dr. Yantis, having resigned his charge, was succeeded 
by Rev. J. M. Cheney, who, with others, supplied the pulpit until August, 
1869, when Rev. A. D. Madeira was called and finally duly installed as pastor, con- 
tinuing in that relation nearly twelve years. In July, 1869, initiatory steps were 
taken to secure a location and build thereon a permanent and more commodious 
house of worship, adapted to the requirements of an increasing congregation. 
Selection was finally made and subscriptions obtained to build the substantial and 
tasteful brick edifice now located on the southwest corner of Grand avenue and 
Eighth street, completed about ten years ago, which is now known as the Central 
Presbyterian church. 

The first duly elected officers of this church, in 1857, were W. P. Allen and 
C. M. Root, as elders, and J. C. McCoy and S. J. Piatt, as deacons, all of whom, 
with one exception, are still living, and remain members therein. 

Its present officers are : Elders — Geo. R. Peake, G. Bird, T. K. Hanna, T. 
B. Lester, T. P. Boteler, J. W. Byers and T- M. Love. 

Deacons— C. D. Lucas, Wm. Peake, "Wm. C. Duvall, W. H. McGillivray, 
T. F. Willis and W. S. Bird. 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Perhaps none of the religious denominations of Kansas City have had more 
financial disabilities to contend with than the First Presbyterian Church. Their 
building has been destroyed by fire and storms at different times, necessitating an 
unusual outlay for building purposes, and in a measure retarding the growth of 
their church. No less than four church edifices have been erected since the first 
organization in 1857, at an expenditure of over eighteen thousand dollars. The 
original site for the church was on Wyandotte street near Seventh, but after the 
destruction by fire of the third building, the location was abandoned, the lots were 
sold and property purchased on Grand avenue, where the present building was 
erected in the winter of 1869-70, under the pastorate of Rev. Robert Irwin. The 
society expended about three thousand dollars in the erection of this church, ex- 
clusive of the amount invested in the purchase of lots. Since then the building 
has been enlarged and improved, the membership increased, and the society is 
now in a prosperous condition. The fund annually contributed by the church 
is over four thousand dollars, and the present valuation of church property is 
about ten thousand dollars. The present building will not long suffice for the 



216 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

increasing needs of the congregation, and the erection of a larger house of 
worship is under contemplation. The church was organized with fifteen charter 
members, and this number has been increased to three hundred and fifty. The 
Sunday-school is large and well attended, and the exercises conducted in an 
interesting manner. About three years ago the services of Rev. S. B. Bell were 
secured, as pastor, arid under his ministrations the church has rapidly extended 
its influence, and the present outlook is very encouraging. 

SAINT Mary's church. 

This parish was among the early organizations of Kansas City, and the 
earliest of the Episcopal denomination. In the year 1857 Rev. J. I. Corbyn first 
began his labors here, and in December of this year organized the society long 
known as St. Luke's Parish. The communicants were few in number, but soon 
commenced operations for building a house of worship. A lot was donated and 
the foundations of a building were laid, but eventually the work was abandoned, 
and Mr. Corbyn resigned his pastorate. In i860 Rev. C. M. Calloway was called 
to take charge of the work already begun, and from this time services were held 
regularly in a hall on Market street, until the beginning of the war, when the 
members became scattered and regular services were suspended for a period of 
nearly four years. In the spring of 1865 efforts were made to gather the scattered 
members together and in the fall of that year Rev. Joseph Wood, of Coldwater, 
Michigan, commenced services, and received a unanimous call to the rectorship 
of the church. He commenced his regular labors in January, 1866. The 
services were at this time conducted in the M. E. Church every Sabbath after- 
noon. 

On Easter Day, April ist, 1866, for the first time in five years, the full 
service of the church was rendered. On this occasion an organ was used by the 
choir, being the first instrument of the kind ever used in Kansas City. In 1867 
arrangements were completed for the erection of a neat frame building at the 
corner of Walnut and Eighth streets, which was finished and ready for occupancy 
in August of the same year. A Sabbath school was organized and the regular 
services of the church were conducted in the new house of worship. The conse- 
cration ceremonies occurred April 29th, 1869, Right Rev. C. F. Robertson, 
Bishop of the Diocese, officiating. The church was enlarged to its present 
dimensions in 187 1, and now has a-seating capacity of five hundred. Rev. Van 
Antwerp succeeded Mr. Wood as rector, and he was followed by Rev. Geo. C. 
Betts. At the expiration of his pastorate Rev. M. E. Buck was called and re- 
mained with the church but a short time, when death brought his labors to an end. 
Rev. H. D. Jardine then took charge of the work and still presides over the 
church. There is now a membership of three hundred and twenty, and the 
society is in a prosperous condition. The Sabbath school is well attended and 
gradually gaining in numbers. In 1879 the name of the church was changed 
from St. Luke's to St. Mary's and is now known by that name. 

SAINT Mary's chapel. 

This church was organized as a mission church within the last two years, and 
is under the charge of St. Mary's Church. A frame building has been erected on 
East Fourth street, wherein services are regularly conducted by Rev. H. D. 
Jardine assisted by Mr. Allen. The services are usually well attended and a 
growing interest manifested in the enterprise. 

FIRST christian CHURCH. 

The organization and building of this church occurred at an early date in the 
history of Kansas City, the society being organized in 1858, and the church erect- 
ed the following year. From a small beginning the church has increased its mem- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 2l7 

bership to four hundred and twenty. The original building, situated at the cor- 
ner of Twelfth and Main streets, and which was used by the congregation for 
upward of twenty years, has recently been removed, and the society have secur- 
ed a desirable lot on the northwest corner of Eleventh and Oak streets, where a 
new house of worship will be erected during the present year, at a cost of $27,- 
000. It is to be built of brick, with stone trimmings, and will have a seating ca- 
pacity of eight hundred. Rev. J. Z. Taylor is the present pastor of the church. 
His pastorate has been long and successful, and through his earnest and untiring 
efforts, both the spiritual and temporal affairs of the church have been steadily 
advanced. Revs. H. H. Haly, G. W. Longan, J. W. Mount] oy and Alexander 
Proctor have presided over the church as pastors since its organization. 

CHARLOTTE STREET BAPTIST CHURCH (COLORED). 

Is situated on Charlotte street, near Tenth. The church was organized in 1864, 
Rev. Clark Moore, Michael Jones, J. Wiggins, Thomas Stewart, James Allen, 
Mrs. Prude Anderson and Mrs. Grace Bell as charter members. The church 
building was erected in 1872, costing about five thousand dollars, and was dedi- 
cated in September of the same year, by Rev. S. J. Anderson, of St. Louis. 
The church has rapidly increased its membership, and now numbers over five 
hundred, one hundred having been added since January i, 1881. 

Rev. Henry Roberson took charge of the church in 1872. At this time the 
spiritual and financial condition of the church was not very prosperous, the mem- 
bership was not large, and the house of worship consisted of a board shanty. 
Through the labors of Mr. Roberson, the church has greatly advanced in all its 
relations, and his ability for carrying forward the work has bean fully demonstra- 
ted by the success which has crowned his labors here and elsewhere. 

Mr. Roberson was born a slave in 1839, near Charlottsville, Virginia, and 
was brought to Saline county, Missouri, by his master when about two years of 
age, where he lived until 1863. During his servitude he received some private 
instructions, and had succeeded in acquiring a fair education previous to becom- 
ing a free man by the Emancipation Proclamation. After obtaining his freedom, 
he went to Springfield, Illinois, and was engaged in business and farming for two 
years, when he began a course of study, which he supplemented by a full theolog- 
ical course. He was ordained to the ministry in 1869, and soon took charge of 
the Second Baptist Church at Sedalia, Missouri. He was subsequently called to 
the church at Lexington, Missouri, where he remained until called to his present 
charge. 

GERMAN EVANGELICAL ST. PETER's CHURCH. 

This organization belong to the German Evangelical Synod of North Ameri- 
ca. The society was organized in the year 1865, with a small membership, con- 
sisting of about twelve heads of families. The church building is situated on the 
east side of Walnut street, between Ninth and Tenth streets. It was erected in 
1866, costing between three and four thousand dollars, is built of brick, and ar- 
ranged for the accommodation of the pastor's family. The church was dedicated 
in 1867, by the present pastor, John C. Feil, who also organized the society and 
was the first pastor of the church. He was succeeded by Henry Kirchhoff, who 
filled the pastorate until Mr. Feil was again called to take charge of the work. 
The Sabbath-school is well attended, and also the day school, in which the chil- 
dren receive religious instruction. The average attendance at both is about eighty. 
The services of the church are conducted in the German language. 

GRAND AVENUE M. E. CHURCH. 

The present society was organized by Rev. Mr. Nesley, in 1865, and wor- 
shiped for about a year in an old frame building on Walnut street between Twelfth 
and Thirteenth streets. Pevious to this, however, in 1863, under Rev. A. H. 



218 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Powell, a society of as many as forty members had been gathered in Kansas City 
and vicinity. The corner of Sixth and Walnut had been secured for a church 
site, but during the war this society was broken up and the lot sold. 

The society was re-organized in 1865, and was composed of about thirty 
members. 

Rev. S. G. Grififis took charge in 1866, and the meetings were held in an 
upper room of a frame building on Main street, west side, between Eighth and 
Ninth. During this year a lot on Walnut street was secured for a church, which 
was afterward disposed of and the present site, corner of Ninth and Grand ave- 
nue, was purchased. The foundation of the church building was commenced but 
the work was suspended for lack of funds. 

In the spring of 1867 Rev. J. N. Pierce came to Kansas City and took 
charge of the society. A wooden tabernacle was built on Delaware street (now 
Baltimore avenue), near the English Lutheran Church, in which the society wor- 
shiped until the basement of tiie church on Grand avenue was so far completed 
as to admit of occupancy, in which the meetings were held during two years. In 
the spring of 1869 Rev. Mr. Pierce was succeeded by Rev. J. W. Bushong, who 
continued as pastor until 1872. During his pastorate the building was completed 
and dedicated by Doctor, now Bishop, Thomas Bowman in 1870. The cost of 
the lot and building was about $30,000. A debt of some $7,000 remained on 
the building. 

The church edifice is built of brick with basement, and audience room 
above. The dimensions are sixty by ninety feet. 

The following persons have served the society as pastors, since 1872 : Rev. 
Gilbert De Lamatyr, D. D., Rev. H. R. Miller, Rev. P. P. Ingalls, D. D., Rev. 
A. C. Williams and Rev. H. G. Jackson, D. D. 

There are now 450 members and probationers. The Sunday-school, of which 
W. H. Reed is Superintendent, has an average attendance of about 1,100. 

During the past year the entire debt has been paid. The contributions to 
the Missionary Society and other benevolences amounted to $1,155.90, which, 
with current expenses and indebtedness paid, make the total amount paid by the 
church last year, $11,247.90. 

The regular yearly expenses — not counting benevolences — is about $3,200. 

SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

The Second Presbyterian Church was among the early religious organizations 
of the city, and encountered many of the vicissitudes incident to the pioneer 
settlement of the country. The work of establishing a church of this denomina- 
tion was begun by the New School Presbytery, who sent Rev. Timothy Hill to 
this field, as the first pastor of the church, after its organization in 1865, by Rev. 
A. T. Norton, D. D. The first house of worship was erected in the spring of 
1866 and the money needed for this purpose, amounting to nearly four thousand 
dollars was mostly secured through the efforts of the pastor, Rev. T. Hill, D. D. 

The organization of the church was completed with ten original members, 
consisting of T. W. Letton, C. F. Smith, Mrs. Seth Coleman, Mrs. Dr. Aruol- 
d'ia, Mrs. Sarah A. Waterman, Mrs. J. K. Cravens, Mrs. Q. N. Smith, Mrs. C. 
N. Boutin, Miss Mary E. Smith and H. R. Crowell. Four of these members 
are still connected with the church. In 1869 Dr. Hill reUnquished the pastorate 
to undertake what has since developed into a most successful work in behalf of 
Home Missions in Kansas and New Mexico. He was followed by Rev. C. D. 
Nott, D. D. , and he in turn by Rev. W, M. Cheever, whose pastorate was ter- 
minated by his death in 1878. Rev. C. C. Kimball, D. D., was then called to 
the pulpit and for the past three years has discharged the duties of this responsi- 
ble position in a very acceptable manner, meeting the full requirements of this 
large and influential congregation. Soon after the commencement of his pas- 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 219 

torate steps were taken to secure a location on which to erect a more commodious 
house of worship which should meet the demands of the rapidly increasing con- 
gregation. As a result of these efforts a beautiful site on Central street, valued 
at $5000, was donated by Mr. S. B. Armour, and generous contributions toward 
building soon followed, and the work was immediately begun. The foundations 
are already laid and it is expected the building will be completed during the 
summer and autumn of 1881, as the money needed for the purpose has already 
been subscribed. It will be in Gothic style, brick, trimmed with stone, fifty- 
seven feet wide and one hundred and thirty feet long. The main audience room 
will have a seating capacity of about one thousand. The seats are to be 
arranged in semi-circles facing the pulpit platform, and the floor will descend in 
every direction toward the pulpit The interior of the church is to be hand- 
somely finished and conveniently arranged for Sabbath-school rooms, parlor, 
kitchen, etc. The cost of the building is estimated at forty thousand dollars, and 
when completed it will be the largest and most elegant church edifice in Kansas 
City. 

The prospects of the church are more than usually encouraging, and every- 
thing gives promise of future success. There is now an actual membership of 
three hundred and forty, and the congregations are large. The Sunday-school 
is in a fine condition under the management of Dr. E. W. Schauffler, the 
efficient superintendent, and has an enrolled membership of two hundred and 
forty. Within the year a mission has been established on Madison avenue 
which has developed into a work of considerable importance, and services are 
held regularly every Sabbath, besides the usual Sunday-school exercises. 

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Rev. John R. Leving organized this society in the month of October, 1866, 
with nine original members. Two years from this time the first church building 
was erected on the southeast corner of Tenth and Charlotte streets, and dedicated 
in.1871 by Rev. J. C. Embry, assisted by Moses Dixon. This building, which 
cost over $1,500, was destroyed by fire in 1876, and replaced the same year by 
a substantial brick edifice at a cost of about $8,000. The church now has a 
membership of 230, and is gradually paying off an indebtedness of $3,000 in- 
curred in putting up the present house of worship. Rev. John Turner is now 
pastor of the church, having labored in this capacity for one year. Under his 
ministrations the affairs of the society are in a prosperous condition. 

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

In 1866 Rev. Randall Ross, the well-known western war correspondent, 
visited Kansas City, and, being a member of the United Presbyterian Church, 
called upon several families of this denomination. The interest awakened by his 
visit resulted in a report to the Presbytery which secured the first preaching by 
this denomination in Kansas City. In 1867 the West Missouri Presbytery ap- 
pointed Rev. Matthew Bigger, of Warrensburg, Mo. , to canvass the city in the 
interests of the church, and his report was so favorable that the Presbytery es- 
tablished a mission station here in April, 1868, which was supplied for a time by 
the Presbytery, but was turned over to the executive committee of the Board of 
Home Missions in June of the same year, W. C. Williams being the stated 
supply. The mission grew rapidly, and on March 12th, 1869, the United Pres- 
byterian congregation was organized with twenty members. Up to this time the 
services had been held in a school-house, but during this year, at the request of 
the session, an appropriation of $5,000 had been granted by the General Assembly, 
a lot was purchased on Walnut street, between Ninth and Tenth, and a church 
building erected. It was completed and dedicated the third Sabbath in February, 
1870, by Rev. Robert Irwin, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Kansas 
City. 



220 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

The church now has a membership of seventy-six, and the usual church 
services are well attended. Rev. D. M. McClellan has been the regularly in- 
stalled pastor of the church for the past seven years, being called to the charge 
in 1874. Under his ministry the society has been prosperous, and there has been 
a manifest increase of spiritual power. 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

In the early history of Kansas City the conditions of society were unfavorable 
to the principles held by the Puritans. Still during the border strife and our civil 
war. Rev. R. D. Parker, then pastor of the Congregational church of Wyandotte, 
did much missionary work in Kansas City, fostering the elements that subse- 
quently received an organization. In 1866, Rev. Leavitt Bartlett came to Kan- 
sas City under the auspices of the American Home Missionary Society for the 
purposes of carrying forward the work already initiated, and of establishing a 
Congregational church. Congregationalism was very little understood in Missouri 
at that time, and the field was, in many respects a difficult one. But Mr. Bart- 
lett undertook his work with a hopeful and earnest spirit, and soon succeeded in 
effecting an organization. The church was organized January 3d, 1866, the fol- 
lowing named persons being original members : Rev. Leavitt Bartlett, Mrs. 
Emily Bartlett, Mrs. Caroline C. Scales, Edward Vaughn, Mrs. Mary C. Vaughn, 
W. P. Winner, Mrs. Mary Winner, Mrs. D. A. Williams, M. B. Wright and 
Jonathan Copeland. Five of this number are still connected with the church. 
The church structure, a frame building, was erected in 1866 at a total expense 
for building and lot of about $4,500, and the building was enlarged and improved 
in 1879, at an expense of about $2,000. The original church was dedicated June, 
24th, 1866, Rev. E. B. Turner, of Hannibal, then Home Missionary agent of Mis- 
souri, preaching the sermon. The following named persons have, in the order given, 
been pastors of the church : Rev. Leavitt Bartlett, Rev. E. N. Andrews, Rev. 
James G. Roberts, and Rev. Henry Hopkins. The Church has purchased an 
eligible site on the corner of McGee and nth streets, and will soon erect a church 
building to correspond with the demands of the growing city. 

In the spring of 1880, a committee was appointed with reference to the ad- 
visability of establishing a mission enterprise in Kansas City, Kansas. As a 
result of this movement, the Kawsmouth Chapel was built and opened for worship 
in December, 1880. This chapel has been open for gospel meetings, a sabbath 
school, a free dispensary, and a reading room. 

Under the pastorate of Rev. Henry Hopkins, the Congregational church has 
received a steady and vigorous growth, and seems destined to push out other 
mission enterprises and occupy this important field which is already "white for 
the harvest." 

ST. Peter's and st. Paul's church. 

This is a German Roman Catholic church, situated at the corner of Ninth 
and McGee streets. The church was built on the petition of the German Catho- 
lics who desired a church in which their language would be spoken. Rev. 
Father N. Gross was sent out from St. Louis to establish the new parish. He 
began his labors in the year 1867, and succeded in erecting the present church 
building. Father Gross remained in charge three years, when he was succeeded 
by Father Andre who remained nearly two years, when Father E. Zechenter took 
the charge and is still presiding over the church. Attached to this church is a 
well attended and prosperous school, called St. Joseph School Society. It was 
established in 1872. 

first ENGLISH LUTHERN CHURCH. 

The First English Luthern church is situated on Baltimore avenue, near 
Eleventh street. It is a neat brick edifice, erected in 1867, costing about eight 
thousand dollars. It is built in Gothic style, the interior being very tastefully 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 221 

and handsomely finished, and capable of seating two hundred persons, comfort- 
ably. Recently the society has expended something over twelve hundred dollars 
in improvements and furniture, which adds much to the comfort and attractions 
of the church. The church was organized April 4, 1867, with Edward Stine and 
wife, J. S. Schell and wife, J. W. Keefer and wife, S. Tholander and wife, 
Edward Diveley and wife, A. Raub, Daniel Schroll, Melinda Hendricks and Mary 
Miley, as charter members. 

In 1868 Rev. Dr. Conrad, of Philadelphia, conducted the dedication services; 
Rev. A. W. Wagenshals then being pastor. Since that time Rev. W. H. Steck, 
Rev. T. F. Dornblaser and Rev. S. S. Waltz have been pastors of the church, the 
latter having been called in April, 1879, and is still in charge of this congrega- 
tion. The church is in a very prosperous condition ; has a membership of sixty- 
five ; an interesting Sunday-school of over two hundred pupils, and a rapidly 
increasing congregation. The pastor. Rev. S. S. Waltz, is greatly beloved by his 
people, and during his two years' pastorate has been instrumental in greatly ex- 
tending the influence of the church. 

FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH. 

In the summer of 1868, Henry N. Smith, Agnes Smith, E. D. Parsons, 
Amos Towle, G. S. Morrison, Alfred Pirtle, Ross Gufiin and Henry A. White, 
met and organized the First Unitarian society of Kansas City. Soon after the 
organization the society made arrangements for the erection of a building, which 
was completed in 1871, at an expenditure of about four thousand dollars. It is 
situated on Baltimore avenue, near Eleventh street. 

W. E. Copeland was the first pastor who had charge of the organization. 
After his labors ceased, the pulpit was filled, first by C. E. Webster, then by Enoch 
Powell and W. S. King. For some time after this there was an interruption in 
the regular service, during which, the members became somewhat scattered. In 
the month of May, 1881, Rev. D. N. Utter was called to take charge of the 
work, and since that time the society has been rapidly increasing in numbers, and 
its financial condition greatly improved. At present the congregation is large 
and attentive, the Sunday-school interesting, and the general affairs of the society 
in a prosperous condition. The annual contribution of the society is somethmg 
over fifteen hundred dollars. 

THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

During the latter part of the year 1869 it was decided by some friends of 
the Presbyterian Church to establish a church in the western part of the city, 
and measures were immediately taken for this purpose. Rev. T. Hill, T. S. 
Reeve, G. W. Goodale and Dr. O. S. Chapman were among the number who 
were actively engaged in this enterprise, and in securing funds for the erection of 
a house of worship. Through their efforts lots were donated at the corner of 
Fourteenth and Hickory streets, and by March first of the same year, a neat 
frame edifice had been erected and was ready for occupancy. The origmal cost 
of the building was two thousand dollars, eight hundred of which was furnished 
by the Board of Church Erection, the greater part being raised in the western 
part of the city. After the completion of the building the church was organized 
and given the name of the Third Presbyterian Church, and the organization 
placed under the charge of the Lexington Presbytery, then known as New School. 
Among the original members were Dr. O. S. Chapman, J. E. Reeve, Mrs. Alice 
Reeve, Mrs. Jane E. Reeve. Mrs. Mary Goodale, Mrs. Mary Mann, Mrs. Anna 
Stevenson and Miss Mary B. Reeve. Rev. J. H. Byers was the first pastor 
called to preside over the church. He was ordained and installed January ist, 
1871, and remained in charge until 1872, when Rev. D. C. Milner became pastor 
of the church. In 1875 ^ev. L. Railsback received and accepted a call to the 



222 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

church and has labored successfully in this field up to the present time. The 
church has been largely prosperous, growing in strength and increasing in num- 
bers, and gives every evidence of having been founded in wisdom. The present 
membership exceeds one hundred, while the Sabbath-school, organized in 1870, 
has increased its numbers to one hundred and fifty. The annual contributions 
for church expenses exceed one thousand dollars. 

LIBERTY STREET METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

In the spring of 1869 R. G. Siess, A. G. Allen, W. H. Barnes, Chas. Vogt, 
Joseph Sweeney, Catherine Siess, Mrs. Vogt and Miss Mollie Cozad met for the 
purpose of organizing the Liberty Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. 
Matthew Sorson was at this time the presiding elder of the district. The organ- 
ization was completed with Rev. Thomas Walcutt as missionary preacher, and 
the first meeting and the first quarterly conference were held in a building used 
for a day school on the corner of St. Louis avenue and Mulberry street, more 
commonly known as Siess' corner. The church building was commenced in the 
autumn of 1869, and in the spring of 1870, Rev. A. Waitman was sent by con- 
ference to take charge of the work. He was the first regular pastor connected 
with the church. During his pastorate the church was completed. Rev. Dr. 
George, of St. Louis, presiding at the dedication services in 187 1. At this time the 
membership had increased to fifty and the church was in a prosperous condition. 
The first Sabbath-school organized in West Kansas was perfected by the members 
of this church, and known as the West Kansas Union Mission Sabbath-school. 
In the summer of 1867, the Sunday-school services were held under the shade 
trees where the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad freight depot now stands, 
and the first sermon was preached at this place by Rev. J. N. Pierce. Since its 
organization, there have been eight pastors connected with the church, Rev. 
Wesley Johnson being the last. There are now one hundred members and the 
congregations are usually large. The Sunday-school is increasing in numbers, 
and has at the present time an average attendance of one hundred and thirty. 
R. G. Siess is the present superintendent of the school. 

The church edifice is a neat frame building situated on the corner of Liberty 
and Thirteenth streets. Its original cost was $2,500 and the present valuation is 
$6,000. A very neat and convenient parsonage has been built at the rear of 
the church lot. Both church and parsonage are free of debt, and the prospects of 
the church are encouraging. 

FIRST CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

This church was organized on the 21st day of March, 1878, as a missionary 
congregation, under the care of the Lexington Presbytery of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian Church. The following persons were present and united in the 
organization: Mrs. Love, J. Sharp, Miss J. T. Smithers, Mrs. E. A. Shoemaker, 
Mrs. O. Q. Mosely, Mrs. Tryphena Venable, Miss Jennie Longworth, Mrs. 
Caroline Arnold, Mrs. M. M. Harber, Mrs. Jane Lea, Judge R. C. Ewing, 
William Arnold, W. J. Shoemaker, Thomas Harber and Rev. J. E. Sharp, the 
missionary. The church building now occupied by the congregation is a small 
frame building, gothic in style, being 26x40 feet, and was built in the fall of 1869 
at a cost of about $2 000. During the year 1872 the house was dedicated. Rev. 
J. E. Sharp preaching the dedication sermon. Rev. James E. Sharp was the first 
pastor, and served the congregation about four years, when he resigned, and Rev. 
Walter Schenck succeeded him and served about six months, when he resigned. 
The congregation was then without a pastor until 1877, when Rev. C. P. Duvall 
was sent as a missionary, who served one year and a half and resigned. Near 
six months thereafter the Presbytery called Rev. B. P. Fullerton as the mission- 
ary, who is yet the pastor. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 223 

The present reported membership is forty-three. The church has suffered 
many reverses in the change of pastors and in the interregnum between the dif- 
ferent pastorates. But the present prospects are very encouraging to the 
congregation. The old property has been sold and a more suitable lot chosen, 
on which a more commodious and attractive building will soon be erected, when it 
is the purpose of the friends of the enterprise to make the work self-sustaining. 

SIXTEENTH STREET METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Is situated on the corner of Sixteenth and Cherry streets. It is a neat frame 
building, and Was first owned by the Missionary Baptist Society, but was bought 
by the Methodists about the year 1870, for five hundred dollars. It was improved 
and enlarged to its present dimensions soon after the purchase was made. After 
its organization by the Methodists, the membership consisted of Messrs. Benson, 
Campbell, Patterson, Wakeman, Thomas Gray and Henry Godwin. It was 
first conducted as a mission church, the pulpit being supplied by local preachers. 
Revs. Campbell, Wakeman and Thomas Gray serving the church in this capacity. 
The first regularly stationed pastor was I. J. K. Lunbeck, sent from the St. Louis 
conference. 

He took charge of the church in 1873. Since that time the following pas- 
tors have been connected with the church: Revs. George Reed, W. V. Hamel, 
and the present pastor. Rev. Olin B. Jones. The church now has a membership 
of one hundred and five full members, and seventy on probation. For several 
years the Sabbath-school has been in a prosperous condition, and now has an 
average attendance of one hundred and ninety. The present superintendent is 
James Allen. The valuation of the church property is sixteen hundred dollars. 
The pastorate of Rev. O. B. Jones expires this year, and the pleasant and har- 
monious relations existing between him and the church will be severed with feel- 
ings of deep regret. 

SWEDISH EO. LUTHERAN ELIM CHURCH. 

The organization of this chilrch occurred in the year 1870. Among the 
original members were P. Nelson, N. Johnson, A. Bergquoist, P. J. Youngquoist, 
J. A. Johnson, W. Erlandson, S. E. Spencer, J. G. S|)encer, A. W. Lonquist. 
In 1 87 1 a neat frame building was erected on west Fifteenth street, between 
Broadway and Washington, at a cost of two thousand dollars, and was dedicated 
the same year. Rev. A. Audreen, from Swedana, Illinois, conducting the cere- 
monies. The first pastor who had charge of the church was S. J. Osterberg, 
who remained pastor until Rev. A. Rodell was called to preside over the church. 
The present pastor, J. P. Neander, has been in charge for the past year, laboring 
with great acceptance to his people. The church now has a membership of one 
hundred and forty, besides eighty children, who are also members. The Sunday- 
school has one hundred and twenty members. Three months in each year a day 
school is conducted for the purpose of teaching the children the doctrines of the 
Gospel. The society has commenced the erection of a neat parsonage, which will 
soon be completed, costing over two thousand dollars. 

GRACE CHURCH. 

This parish was first called St. Luke's Parish, and organized August 29, 
1870, with about forty communicants. Three years after the first organization 
the name was changed and it is now known as Grace Church. Previous to the 
erection of a house of worship the services were held in the basement of the 
Opera House the greater part of the time, up to the winter of 1874-5 — when the 
new building was completed and ready for occupancy. The church edifice, 
erected on the southeast corner of Tenth and Central streets, is a well arranged 
and neatly finished frame building, costing the society between four and five 



224 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

thousand dollars. AVithin the past year it has been found necessary to enlarge 
the dimensions of the church to meet the increasing demands of the congrega- 
tion, and the work will soon be completed. The enJargement will cost about two 
thousand dollars and will increase the seating capacity to nearly seven hundred. 
The communicants now number two hundred and fifty and the Sunday-school 
one hundred and fifty. Since the organization of the church the following rec- 
tors have filled the pulpit: F. R. Haff, Algernon Batte, J. E. Martin, H. C. 
Duncan and Cameron Mann. The society contributes over four thousand 
dollars annually for benevolent purposes and incidental expenses. 

CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 

This church was organized June 23, 1872, Father Wm. J. Dalton, the 
present pastor, was appointed by the Archbishop of St. Louis to establish this 
parish. With the assistance of his people, composed mostly of the laboring 
classes, he has erected a temporary church, costing over three thousand dollars, 
and a large and beautiful pastoral residence, costing about four thousand dollars. 
The property belonging to the parish is valuable and well located. The parish was 
somewhat embarrassed for a few months during the panic which occurred soon 
after its organization, but is now out of debt and prosperous. The number of 
parishioners is estimated at two thousand. There are two schools connected with 
it, one for boys and one for girls. There is also a Young Men's Benevolent 
Society attached to the parish which numbers about one hundred. The officers 
are Wm. J. Dalton, President; Joseph Monahan, Secretary; Patrick Kirby, 
Treasurer. This church is located in West Kansas, corner of 14th and Wyom- 
ing streets. ^ 

SAINT Patrick's church. 

In the eastern portion of the city is the handsome brick church edifice 
belonging to St. Patrick's Parish of the Catholic Church. It is a large and hand- 
some building and was erected by the voluntary contributions of the friends of 
the church. Rev. Father Halpin commenced the erection of a substantial church 
building on the corner of Sixth and Oak streets, which was used many years by 
the Saint Patrick's congregation. The growth of the city, and the increase of 
the congregation created a demand for more commodious quarters, and a new 
church was decided upon during the pastorate of Father Archer. The new 
building was erected in 1873 and the first services were held on Christmas Day. 
The church is situated at the corner of Eighth and Cherry street and is presided 
over by Fathers Dunn and Smith. 

trinity church. 

Is a mission enterprise first undertaken by the members of Grace church, 
under the superintendence of Rev. Mr. Batte. It was organized by him in 1873, 
with a small membership, but as the society was unable to build and the seruices 
were conducted at somewhat infrequent intervals there has not been a very en- 
couraging increase in membership. The mission is now under the charge of St. 
Mary's church, and the more recent services of the church have been conducted 
in the Ctmiberland Presbyterian church, by Rev. F. R. Holeman, rector of St, 
Mary's. The regular services of the society have been discontinued during the 
past year, but will be resumed as soon as suitable property can be secured and a 
building erected. 

congregation b'nai jehudah. 

The Jewish Synagogue is a substantial frame building, situated near the 
corner of Wyandotte and Sixth streets. It was erected in 1875 at a ^o^t of seven 
thousand dollars. The church was completed and dedicated in 1876, the services 
being conducted by Rev. Emanuel L. Hess. The membership of the church has 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 225 

been increased to one hundred, and the average attendance at the usual church 
services is good. The annual expenses of the church are between three and 
four thousand dollars inclusive of pastor's salary. 

The pastors who have been connected with the church since its organization 
in 1870, with twenty-five original members, are Dr. N. R. Cohen, Emanuel L. 
Hess, David Burgheim, Dr. I. Grossmann and Dr. E. Eppstein, the present 
pastor. 

MOUNT OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH (cOLORED). 

This church was organized by Rev. H. Roberson in 1S76, with seven charter 
members, which have been increased to seventy-five. The services of the church 
have been conducted in a small building in West Kansas up to the present time, 
but arrangements have been made for the erection of a brick building on property 
owned by the society. This church is a mission enterprise, originating in the 
Charlotte Street Baptist church, and for several years was conducted by this 
society. Rev. P. T. Tulliver is now pastor of the church. The new house of 
worship will be situated in West Kansas, in a locality where the needs are great 
for the extension of religious influence, and where ample opportunity is afforded 
for Christian labor. 

CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH. 

The Calvary Baptist church was organized February 7, 1876, with a mem- 
bership of thirty-eight. Within two years from the date of its organization, the 
brick building now occupied by the society, was completed, at a cost of eight 
thousand dollars, and was dedicated December 2, 1877 — the pastor. Rev. J. E. 
Chambliss, officiating, assisted by Dr. A. W. Chambliss, Dr. J. C. Bonham and 
Prof. C. S. Sheffield. The church is now in a prosperous condition ; has increas- 
ed its membership to two hundred, and has a flourishing Sabbath-school, with an 
average attendance of one hundred and fifty. The society has in contempla- 
tion the erection of a more commodious building on the present site, as the 
increasing nedds of the church demand an increase of room, and other facilities 
for church worship. Rev. J. E. Chambliss, formerly pastor of the First Baptist 
church, has been pastor of the Calvary church since its organization. J. L. 
Peak, is the present Sabbath- school superintendent. 

The annual contribution of the church for pastor's salary, church expenses 
and benevolent objects, average two thousand and five hundred dollars. The 
church is situated on Grand avenue, near the corner of Eleventh street, and the 
new house of worship will occupy the remainder of the lot, extending to Eleventh 
street, and will be adapted to the growing needs of the society. 

CHURCH OF THE REDEMPTORIST FATHERS. 

In the year 1877 the Redemptorist Fathers purchased ten acres of land on a 
commanding elevation a short distance from the city, on the Westport road. 
Here they have erected substantial buildings, improved the grounds with walks 
and gardens, and converted one of the buildings into a spacious chapel, which 
serves as a church for the Catholics in the vicinity. The pastoral residence of 
the Father, with the church building and the property belonging to the parish, 
has a present valuation of $42,000. In connection with this it may be stated 
that the total valuation of church property belonging to the Catholics of Kansas 
City is $343,600. 

WASHINCxTON STREET METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

The Tabernacle, as this chur'ch was formerly called, was a private enterprise 
of W. B. Barber, a Methodist layman. He buih it during the fall of 1877, ^^'^ 
conducted the services as an independent institution for about six months, when 
he yielded to a pressure brought to bear upon him by a number of Methodists, 

15 




DIAMOND FLOURING MILLS, KANSAS CITY, MO. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 227 

to organize the society into a Methodist Episcopal church. At the time of doino- 
so he deeded the property to five trustees, and continued the pastoral chiro-e fo° 
about two years longer, when he resigned, in March, 1880, and Rev. A. C. 
Williams became pastor and remained in charge until Rev. John R. Eads was 
called to the position. During the pastorate of Mr. Eads the society felt unable 
to pay either interest or principal on a $3,000 mortgage, and the church property 
was sold under foreclosure of same and bought in by Mr. Barber, its orio-inator 
for $2,500, and was sold by him to some members of the Walnut street M. E. 
church, who subscribed the amount needed to place the church out of debt and 
upon a permanent basis. The church was then organized by this denomination 
with about twelve members, and Rev. Mr. Scarrett was appointed pastor until 
the meeting of Conference in the fall, when Rev. George Meredith took charge 
of the work. The membership has increased to fifty during the year, and the 
present prospects of the church are very encouraging. The society is without a 
pastor at present. 

ZION'S church of the evangelical association of north AMERICA. 

This church is situated on Oak street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
streets. The organization is of recent date, occurring in 1878 with eleven orio-inal 
members. The building is a neat brick structure, capable of seating- three hun- 
dred people comfortably. The society expended about $3, 200 in its construction 
and had it completed in 1879. The dedication ceremonies occurred in September 
of the same year. Rev. Mr. Kurtz organized the church and was its first pastor. 
He was followed by Rev. Henry Mattill, who has recently been appointed to a 
new field of labor. Rev. S. B. Brown is the present pastor. The membership 
is now over fifty, and the society is in a prosperous condition. The services of 
the church are conducted in the German language. 

second CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

The society of this church is, at present, holding services in a rented house 
but will, during the present year, complete a house of worship. The lot owned 
by the society, at the northwest corner of Tenth and McGee streets, is a beauti- 
ful location for the handsome building in contemplation. Although the organiza- 
tion of the church is of recent date, occurring in July, 1878, the membership has 
rapidly increased, and the original number of forty-nine members has more than 
doubled. Rev. David Walk was the first pastor of the church, remaining one 
year, when he was succeeded by Prof. A. E. Higginson, who still has charge of 
the congregation. The society is prosperous, harmonious in action, and earnest 
in their endeavors for the prosperity and welfare of the organization The Sab- 
bath-school is well attended and in a flourishing condition. The annual fund 
contributed for church expenses and benevolent purposes exceeds $2,000. 

ST. Mary's church. 

Rev. F. R. Holeman has been rector of St. Mary's church since its first or- 
ganization in the year 1879. The original members were C. W. Freeman, J. W. 
Dunlap, J. F. Ramage, L. B. Austin, G. W. Dunlap, J. M. Lee, F. C. Lee, J. 
O. Bradenbaugh, P. M. Austin, C. S, Lee, W. H. Lee, Mrs. B. B. Kerr and 
Mrs. L. B. Austin. The house of worship belonging to the society is situated on 
the corner of Locust street and East Missouri avenue. It is a neat frame build- 
ng, erected in the spring of 1880, costing about $r,ooo. The society has had 
some serious disadvantages to contend with, as the building was partially destroyed 
by storm, necessitating considerable outlay for repairs. But the members are 
hopeful, and are helping to carry forward the work, despite all difficulties, and at 
present there are good prospects ahead. The membership has increased to forty- 
five, and the Sunday-school, under the superintendence of J. W. Freeman, is in a 



228 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

fine condition, having an average attendance of over sixty, and rapidly in- 
creasing. 

LYDIA AVENUE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (SOUTh). 

The new church on the corner of Lydia avenue and Ninth street was first 
opened for service on Sunday, May ist, 1881. Rev. L. P. Norfleet, the pastor, 
preached a very interesting sermon to a good audience. This church was built 
during the present year as a mission enterprise of the Walnut Street Methodist 
church. It is in a part of the city which is being rapidly built up, and exactly 
meets the present demand for the extension of religious influences. It starts 
under the fairest auspices, and meets with the hearty encouragement and coopera- 
tion of the people. The church building, though not an extensive edifice, is neat 
and well adapted to the purpose for which it was intended, and is, to a certain 
extent, a novelty in church architecture in the West. The building is an octagon, 
with a high, steep roof in the Gothic style, toned with many elements of Greek. 
The faq:ade is essentially Greek, as well as the porticos and trimmings. The 
remainder of the building being Gothic, gives it a very pleasing and unique ap- 
pearance. 

The dedication services occurred the second Sunday in June, 1881, and 
were conducted by Dr. E. R. Hendricks, president of Central College, Fayette, 
Mo. Although the organization of this church is of such recent date, the con- 
gregations are already large, the services interesting, and the prospects for the up- 
building of an influential church and society is highly encouraging. 

THE MASONIC ORDER. 

Heroine Lodge No. 104, A. F. and F. M., was organized on the twelfth day 
of December, 1848, and is the oldest lodge in the city. The officers were as 
follows: Thomas Leonard, W. M.; Geo. B. Dameron, S. M.; B. F. Tubbs, J. 
W.5 W. G. Buckley, Secretary; John Biggerstaff, Treasurer; M. P. Amsbary, 
Tyler. This lodge has a large and influential membership, the meetings being 
held on the first and third Mondays in each month. The present officers are : 
H. B. Ezekiel, W. M.; Jno. Walson, S. W.; A. Trummell, J. W.; E. M. Wright, 
Secretary; H. Game, Treasurer; Geo. W. Lee, S. D.; John Henry, J. D.; T. J. 
Hamilton, Tyler. 

Kansas City R. A. Chapter No. 28, holds its regular convocation at Masonic 
Hall on the first and third Thursday of each month. The charter was granted by 
the Grand Chapter of Missouri to J. W. McDonald, Geo. E. Pitkins, J. M. 
Ridge, and several others on May 9, 1869. The total number of names on the 
register is 218, present membership being 73. The officers are, W. E. Whiting, 
M. C. H. P.; F. H. Bruce, E. K.; H. G. Russell, E. S.; H. C. Litchfield, Sec- 
retary. 

Kansas City Lodge No. 220, A. F. and A. M. The charter of this lodge 
was granted by the Grand lodge of Missouri on the 30th day of May, 1861. W. 
M. Leftwich, J. T. Moores, B. H. Sevugs and several others being the charter 
members. Since its organization some 397 names have been enrolled ; the pres- 
ent membership is 129. The officers are W. J. McCullough, W. M.; J. S. Bots- 
ford, S. W.; D. H. Eaton, J. W.; H. C. Litchfield, Secretary. Meetings are held 
every second and fourth Monday in each month at Masonic Hall. 

Rural Lodge No. 316, F. M. and A. M., was organized in March, 1869. 
The officers were as follows: B. L. Riggins, S. W.; I. E. Jackson, J. W.; Isaac 
Stiers, S. D.; J. Johnson, J. D.; W. Smith, Tyler; A. B. Easle, Secretary. The 
membership is large, being over sixty; some of the above officers still retain 
their membership. The officers at present are : R. E. Bainbridge, W. M. ; W. 
G. Ashdown, S. W.; B. W. Warner, J. W.; W. O. Huckett, Secretary; R. E. 
Peet, Treasurer; Thomas Bell, S. D.; G. S. Peppard, J. D.; C. E. Freidenburg, 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 229 

Tyler. This lodge holds regular meethigs on the first and third Wednesday of 
each month. 

Palace Council, R. & S. M. , No. 24, was chartered October 5th, 1877. H. 
C. Duncan, P. Baker and J. D. A. Cook being among the first members. 
There are nineteen members. The officers are : P. Baker, D. M.; H. C. Litch- 
field, Secretary. The Council meets at Masonic Hall on the third Tuesday of 
each month. 

Temple Lodge, No. 29, A. F. & A. M., meets at Masonic Hall every first 
and third Tuesday in each month. Asa Maddox, W. M. ; J. H. Waite, Sec- 
retary. 

Oriental Commandery, No. 35, was organized June 3d, 1880, and at present 
has a membership of between forty and fifty, and is in a flourishing condition. 
The meetings are held at Masonic Hall, northwest corner of Seventh and Main, 
over the post-office. Sir J. K. Hardy, Eminent Commander ; Sir S. D. Thacher, 
Generalissimo ; Sir A. J. Close, Captain-General ; Sir W. P. Moores, Treasurer ; 
Sir W. A. Drowne, Recorder; Sir A. J. Mead, Senior Warden; Sir H. C. Parker, 
Junior Warden; Sir G. D. Sherwin, Sword Bearer; Sir N. K. Wager, Warden; 
P. Casey, Captain-Guard. The office of Prelate and Standard Bearer are at 
present vacant. 

Emanuel Chapter Eastern Star, No. 81, meets every first and third Tuesday 
in each month. Mrs. Chas. Knickerbocker, M. W. ; Wm. McCuUough, W. P. ; 
Mrs. A. A. Holmes, D. W. M.; Mrs. Wm. McCullough, Treasurer; Mrs. Bell 
Knickerbocker, Secretary. 

Masonic Board of Relief, is composed of two members of each lodge in the 
city, with W. M. Potter, President ; W. F. Ford, Secretary and Treasurer ; R. 
C. Crowell, D. D. G. M.; J. H. Ward, D. D. G. L. Meetings are held in 
Masonic Hall. 

Kansas City Commandery K. T., No. 10, hold their regular conclave at 
their Asylum, Masonic Hall, on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month 
at seven p. m. H. C. Litchfield, E. C; W. J. Connely, Secretary^ 

ODD FELLOWS. 

Kansas City Lodge, O. F., No. 257. — Meets at their hall, 531 Main street, 
every Saturday evening. C. M. Clark, N. G.; Chas. Long, Secretary. 

Wyandotte Lodge, No. 35. — H. H. Swift, N. G.; W. L. Mitchell, Secretary. 
Meets every Tuesday evening, at 7 p. m., at 531 Main street. 

Lincoln Lodge, No. 173. — Jno. H. Warneke, N. G.; H. W. Zurn, Secretary. 
Meets Monday evenings at Odd Fellows Hall. 

Kansas City Encampment, No. 27. — T. P. Skinner, C. P.; N. Schwartz, 
Scribe. Holds its meetings on the second and third Thursdays in each month. 

Relief Committee consists of W. N. McDearmon, R. Harburg, N. Schwartz. 

Riverside Lodge, Knights and Ladies of Honor. — Meets at Knights of Pyth- 
ias Hall, on the second and fourth Thursday nights of each month. Mrs. Mary 
Randall, Secretary. 

Knights of Honor, Kansas City Lodge, No. 1255. — Meets at Knights of 
Pythias Hall, on first and third Thursday evenings of each month. A. Lynch, 
Reporter. 

Gate City Lodge, No. 1256, K. H. — Meets first and third Wednesdays of 
each month, at K. of P. Hall, 617 Main street. R. Lampe, P. D.; Dr. G. Hoff- 
mann, Secretary. 

Uhland Lodge, No. 416, D. O. H., Kansas City, Kansas. — Herman Friese, 
O. B.; Wm. Rose, Secretary; E. G. Pueschel, D. D. G. B. of Kansas. Meets 
second and fourth Wednesdays in each month, at Western Hall, 1919 Sixth street, 
Kansas City, Kansas. 



230 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. 

Kansas City Lodge, No. i. — At a meeting held on the — day of February, 
1870, in Vaughan's Diamond, a hall located at the junction of Main and Dela- 
ware streets, Kansas City, Mo , Sol. Smith, Theo. Stritler, C. M. Kendall, H. 
St. Clair, Chas. Herold, Jacob Bohlender, Henry Scheid, August Weber, Robt. 
Roth, P. Cooper, S. C. Delme, D. S. Marvin, Sam. Hulme, James DeLuce, 
Anton Antlaner, G. W. Dyas, W. F. Marshall, Oscar Persons, Geo. R. Filer, 
L. M. Thompson and S. Brill met for the purpose of considering the propriety 
of organizing a lodge of the Knights of Pythias in Kansas City, Mo. Peter L. 
Cooper was elected as Chairman, and Mr. Robert Roth as Secretary. It was 
resolved unanimously that application be made to organize a lodge in this city, 
to be known as Kansas City Lodge No. i, K. of P., of Missouri. 

The application list was forwarded on the 2 2d of February, with forty-five 
signatures, by Robert Roth, the Secretary pro tern., who was also a member of 
Tremont Lodge No. 128, of Tremont, Pennsylvania. 

In pursuance to a call from the Secretary, the applicants met at Vaughan's 
Diamond at eight o'clock on the evening of March 3d, 1870, Robert Roth being 
called upon to preside. 

Pursuant to adjournment and call the following named persons, who had 
signed the application for a dispensation to organize Kansas City Lodge No. i, 
met at Good Templars' Hall on the evening of May 5th, 1870, for the purpose of 
perfecting the organization of said Lodge, viz : Robert Roth, J. E. Neal, Sam. 
Hulme, Sol. Bertenstein, M. H. Card, August Weber, Henry Scheid, Theodore 
Stritter and F. A. Taft. 

Past Grand Chancellor John Q. Goss, of Nebraska, was also present, and 
stated that Supreme Recording and Corresponding Secretary Clarence M. Barton, 
of the District of Columbia, had forwarded to him the application for said lodge 
at Kansas City, Mo., with the dispensation granted, authorizing him as special 
deputy to organize and institute said lodge, and that he was now here for that 
purpose. He then called the meeting to order and proceeded to perform the 
duties assigned him. 

D. S. C. Goos, appointed Bro. J. E. Neil as Grand Venerable Patriarch, 
Bro. Roth as Grand Vice-Chancellor, and Bro. Sam'l Hulme as Grand Recording 
and Corresponding Secretary. Bros. Wm. Schmahlfeldt and J. B. Guentzer, of 
Humboldt Lodge No. 2, of Illinois were appointed as Grand Guide and Grand 
Inner Steward, respectively. 

The Deputy Sup. Chancellor administed the obligations of the three ranks 
to Messrs. M. H. Card, August Weber, Sol. Bertenstein and Theo. Stritter, after 
which he opened a Lodge of Knights of Pythias with the officers above named, 
and filled the remaining offices as follows: Bro. M. H. Card, G. F. S.; Bro. A. 
Weber, as Grank Banker; and Bro. Bertenstein, as G. O. S. 

The three degrees were conferred in ritualistic form on Messrs. F. A. Taft 
and H. Scheid. 

Deputy Sup. Chancellor Goss presented the cards of Bros. Roth, Neal and 
Hulme, which were placed on file, and on motion it was resolved to go into the 
nomination and election of officers for said lodge. The result of the ballot at 
said election was as follows : 

For Worthy Chancellor, Robert Roth ; for Vice-Chancellor, Samuel Hulme; 
for Venerable Patriarch, J. E. Neal; for Recording Secretary, M. H. Card; for 
Financial Secretary, Sol. Bertenstein ; for Banker, August Weber ; for Guide, 
Henry Scheid; for Inside Sentinel, Theo. Stritter; for Outside Sentinel, F. A. 
Taft. 

Whereupon Dep. Sup. Chancellor Goss installed the above brethren into 
their respective offices; and, after making appropriate remarks in' regard to 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 231 

the great and grand principles on which the superstructure of Pythianism rests, 
and giving valuable advice and counsel as to the duties of officers and members 
of the order generally, and this lodge in particular, he closed by declaring Kansas 
City Lodge No. i, Knights of Pythias of Missouri, duly organized and instituted 
in accordance with the laws and usages of the order. 

It is proper here to state that of all the original charter members and officers 
of Kansas City Lodge No. i, but one only remains in the Lodge, that one is P. 
G. C. Robt. Roth, who has ever since its inception been a live, active and work 
ing member of the order and of his lodge, and ever stands ready to lend his aid, 
influence and energies to the cause of friendship, charity and benevolence. 

This lodge, like most other lodges, has had its times of adversity as well 
as prosperity; but, although upon several occasions since its institution it 
had almost given up in despair, by the help of a iQ.\N brave and valiant knights it 
has stood the test, and to-day stands forth as a living monument of the grand 
principles of friendship, charity and benevolence. 

It would be impossible to give a detailed account of the rise and progress of 
this lodge from its inception to the present date. Suffice it to say, Kansas City 
Lodge No. I is now in the height of her glory, with a membership of about one 
hundred and twenty good, true and tried knights, her exchequer is in fine condi- 
tion, and she is soon to occupy one of the finest halls in the State. All of her 
members are live, active business men, and all are possessed with earnest love 
and ardent zeal for her success and that of the Order throughout the world. 

Meetings are held at their hall, northwest corner of Main and Eleventh 
streets, on Monday evening of each week. John Conlon, K. of R. and S. 

At a meeting of Kansas City Lodge No. i, which was held June 7, 1881, a 
communication was read from the Supreme Lodge, notifying the lodge that a 
Grand Lodge would soon be instituted, and authorizing them to elect three past 
chancellors, as representatives thereto. The result was the election of Thomas 
Phelan, Robt. Roth and Joseph S. Norman, as representatives. Thus were the 
first steps taken for the organization of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, which has 
grown into such a prosperous and influential society. In 1874 this lodge con- 
solidated with Lucas Lodge No. 9, the membership in both lodges then being 
but thirty-two. Meetings are held regularly at their hall, northwest corner Main 
and Eleventh streets. 

The following named Grand Lodge officers reside in Kansas City : R. E. 
Cowan, Supreme Representative, office is at the Court House; J. F. Spalding, 
Supreme Representative, at 916 and 918 Main street; R. H. Mabury, D. D. G. 
C, at 404 Delaware street. 

The following is a list of the other lodges of this order in Kansas City: 

Sicilian Lodge, No. 39. — This lodge was organized February 11, 1876, with 
thirty-two charter members, all gentlemen of high social position. The lodge 
started under very favorable auspices, and its progress has been onward and up- 
ward from the beginning. The membership has increased rapidly. The lodge 
meets at 720 Main street, on Friday evening of each week. Present officers : 
John C. McCoy, C. C; T. S. B. Slaughter, K. of P. and S. 

Kansas City division. No. 3, Uniform Rank. — meets at 720 Main street, the 
first Thursday of each month. S. B. Prevost, Commander, J. E. Hicks, 
Recorder. 

Endowment Rank, No. 52. — Meets at 720 Main street, the fourth Thursday 
of each month. Robert Roth, President, W. J. Ward, Secretary and Treasurer. 

Humboldt Lodge, No. 4 (German). — Meets at 617 Main street, Tuesday 
evening of each week. Charles Fuchs, C. C, Charles Hiltwein, K. of R. and S. 

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 

McPherson Post, No. 4 — Was organized about one year ago, with twelve 



232 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

charter members, and at present has a membership of over two hundred. This 
Post is not of a political character, being purely benevolent in its aims. The pres- 
ent officers are : Frank Snow, Post Commander, N. M. Gvvynne, Adjutant, of 
the Post, Mr. Wade, V. P. C, Dan Kern, 2nd V. P. C, Thomas Clovvdsley, 
Chaplain. Meetings are held every second and fourth Wednesday evenings in 
each month, at 1301 Grand avenue. 

THE ORDER OF MUTUAL PROTECTION. 

Kansas City Lodge, No. 11 — Meets every second and fourth Monday even- 
ings in each month, at the corner of Grand avenue and Thirteenth streets. Presi- 
dent, Asa Maddox, Secretary, E. Willoth, 

Excelsior Lodge, No. 16. — Meets every second and fourth Friday evenings 
in each month, on Main street, northwest corner of Eleventh. 

ANCIENT ORDER OF DRUIDS. 

Kansas City Lodge, No. 30. — Fred. Buehler, Noble Arch, Henry Hartman, 
Junior Noble Arch, Fred. Weiss Secretary, Charles Zorn, Treasurer. 
Meetings are held every Tuesday evening at 1301 Grand avenue. 

ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS. 

Edward Berg, Secretary, J. H. Simms, Treasurer. Meets first and third 
Wednesdays of each month, at 1215 West Twelfth street. West Kansas. 

GOOD TEMPLARS. 

Rising Star Lodge, No. 148. — Holds regular meeting every Saturday even- 
ing in K. of P. Hall, 720 Main street. Charles Terry, W. C. T. , James Fair- 
man, W. Secretary, J. M. Greenwood, G. L. D. 

ORDER OF CHOSEN FRIENDS. 

No. I Metropolitan. — Meets every Tuesday evening, south side of Thir- 
teenth, between Main and Walnut. D. S. Harriman, C. C.; S. S. McGibbon, 
recorder ; John Shaw, Treasurer. 

Harmony, No. 3. — Meets every Thursday evening at 710 Main. S. H. 
Anderson, C. C. ; R. S. Todd, Recorder ; D. B. Holmes, Treasurer. 

Pioneer, No. 4. — Meets every Friday evening at 13 15 West Ninth street. 
W. D. Buck, C. C. ; James Gilchrist, Recorder. 

Irish Benevolent Society. — Meets on the first Sunday in each month, south- 
west corner Seventh and Oak streets. Jeremiah O'Dowd, President; Bernard 
Owens, Vice-President; James Burk, Treasurer; Wm. Hanloy, Secretary; Hugh 
Reiley, Corresponding Secretary. 

Ancient Order of Hibernians. — Meets on the first Monday of each month at 
their hall, northeast corner Main and Seventh streets. Michael White, Presi- 
dent; George Dugan, Vice-President; Michael Madick, Secretary; Thomas Con- 
way, Treasurer. 

KANSAS CITY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 

The Kansas City Academy of Science was organized December 2, 1875. 
When Prof. John D. Parker, the originator of the Kansas Academy of Science, 
moved to Kansas City in the summer of 1875, he determined to effect another 
organization on the same general plan, believing that the two societies would mu- 
tually strengthen each other. After conferring with citizens possessing scientific 
proclivities, he published several articles on the subject calling public attention to 
the importance of effecting such an organization at an early period. In Novem- 
ber of the same year he circulated the following call for the organization of the 
Academy : 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 233 

Kansas City, Mo., November 13, 1875. 
We, the undersigned, desirous of giving a more systematic direction to scien- 
tific pursuits, and of securing the advantages arising from association in scientific 
investigation, do hereby invite all persons interested in science to meet in the 
parlors of the Coates House, on Thursday evening, November 18, 1875, to or- 
ganize an Academy of Science for Kansas City and vicinity. 

W. H. REED, R. T. VAN HORN, 

H. H. WEST, JOHN D. PARKER, 

EDWARD H. ALLEN, L V. C. KARNES, 
W. H. MILLER, JAMES G. ROBERTS, 

L. K. THACHER, J. M. GREENWOOD, 

THOMAS J. EATON, GEORGE HALLEY, 
M. MUNFORD, W. W. BLOSS, 

CHAS. E. LOCKE, JOHN C. MOORE. 

In pursuance of the above call about thirty gentlemen assembled in the parlor 
of the Coates House, where a preliminary organization was effected, and a com- 
mittee consisting of E. H. Allen, P. Lucas and J. D. Parker, appointed to draft 
a constitution and by-laws. The meeting adjourned for two weeks at the call of 
the committee on constitution and by-laws. 

The regular adjourned meeting of the persons agreeing to form an Academy 
of Science, for Kansas City and vicinity, was held in the High School building, 
December 2nd, 1875. The committee on constitution and by-laws then made 
their report which was accepted, and, after thorough discussion and amendment, 
was adopted. The following named persons then signed the constitution : R. T. 
Van Horn, A. R. French, Henry A. White, Dr. George Halley, E. Case, Jr., 
Dr. J. H. Ridge, Philander Lucas, H. W. Ess, Harry P. Child, H. H. West, Dr. 
C. D. McDonald, Dr. J. S. Teed, G. W. Fitzpatrick, Dr. John Wilson, L. 
Traber, D. M. McClellan, B. L. Woodson, Dr. T. J. Eaton, W. H. Sibert, E. 
P. West, Theo. S. Case, W. E. Winner, James Scammon, W. H. Miller, M. D. 
Trefren, D. Ellison, Rev. A. M. Colver, John D. Parker, P. S. Mitchener, C. 
S. Sheffield, Dr. John Fee, W. P. Wade and C. N. Brooks. 

The following named officers were elected for the current year : 

E. H. Allen, President; R. T. Van Horn, Vice-President; C. S. Sheffield. 

Secratary ; James G. Roberts, Treasurer; Curator and Librarian, 

Ermine Case, Jr., T. J; Eaton, Dr. J. L. Teed and J. D. Parker, were elected 
members of executive committee. At a subsequent meeting the office of Corre- 
sponding Secretary was created, and Col. Theo. S. Case was elected to fill said 
office, which he has held, by successive elections, to the present time. At the 
annual meeting, May 29th, 1877, R. T. Van Horn was elected President, which 
office he still holds by succesive elections. 

At the annual meeting. May 31st, 1881, the following officers were elected 
for the current year : 

R. T. Van Horn, President ; W. H. Miller, Vice-President ; T. J. Eaton, 
Treasurer; Theo. S. Case, Corresponding Secretary ; J. D. Parker, Recording 
Secretary; Harry Child, Curator; Sidney Hare and Dr. R. Wood Brown, Assis- 
tant Curators ; Robert Gillham, Librarian. Dr. T. J. Eaton, Dr. George Halley, 
Maj. B. L. Woodson and John D. Parker are members of the executive com- 
mittee. 

The Academy has two functions, (i) to increase a knowledge of science by 
original observation and investigation, and (2) to diffiise a knowledge of science. 
Located in a large and growing commercial center the Academy has assumed 
to a considerable extent, a popular character, and many valuable papers have 
been read which in due time will be gathered up and published in the permanent 
Transactions. And the Academy has already done some original work worthy 
of mention. The discovery of the Mounds in Clay county by Judge E. P. 



234 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

West, Vice-President, and their development under the auspices of the Academy 
has been a work worthy of any scientific body. The Academy has made some 
valuable collections and has a growing library. The influence of the Academy 
in diffusing a scientific spirit is beginning to be felt throughout the city and its 
immediate vicinity. 

woman's christian association. 

The Woman's Christian Association organized in the year 1876, has 
increased rapidly in membership, and extended its benevolent work to all parts 
of the city. The society now owns a valuable building lot and will soon com- 
mence the erection of a suitable and permanent building. The benevolent work 
accomplished by the society is beyond estimation and has been met and per- 
formed in the spirit of true Christian charity. The present officers of the 
society are : Mrs. F. M. Black, President; Mrs. J. K. Cravens, and Mrs. F. J. 
Baird, Vice-Presidents; Mrs. H. M. Holden, Treasurer; Mrs. Wm. Williamson, 
Secretary. • 

THE CRAIG rifles 

Were organized in the year 1877. The first military officers were J. N. Dubois, 
Captain ; E. V. Wilkes, First Lieutenant ; John Conover, Second Lieutenant ; 
John Duncan, Third Lieutenant The Civil officers were J. A. Cooper, Presi- 
dent ; W. J. Herry, Vice-President; Geo. E. Leach, Secretary; W. H. Winants, 
Treasurer. The present officers are John Conover, Captain ; John A. Duncan, 
First Lieutenant ; Wm. Peake, Second Lieutenant. The office of Third Lieu- 
tenant has been abolished. The present civil officers are Milton Moore, Presi- 
dent ; Chas. W. Freeman, Vice-President; E. G. Moore, Secretary and Treas- 
urer; C. A. Brown, Assistant Secretary. The Staff officers are S. T. Smith, 
Adjutant; M. A. Bogie, Surgeon; T. F. Oakes, Commissary; C. E. Kearney, 
Quartermaster; C. H. Prescott, Ordinance Officer; A. D. Madeira, Chaplain. 

MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES, CLUBS, ETC. 

Kansas City Medical Society— A. B. Sloan, M. D., President: D. R. Por- 
ter, M. D., Vice-President ; J. H. Van Eman, M. D., Secretary. Meets bi- 
monthly, in Dr. Sloan's office. 

Jackson County Medical Society. — Dr. C. D. McDonald, President; Dr. 
A. B. Spruill, Vice-President; Dr. M. A. Bogie, Secretary and Treasurer. 

Homoeopathic Medical Society of Kansas City. — Meets first and third Tues- 
days of each month. J. Feld, M. D., President; B. Baker, M. D., Vice-Presi- 
dent; W. H. Jenney, M. D., Secretary. 

Histo-pathological Society — Meets semi-monthly at 120 west Ninth street. 
F, B. Tiffany, President; A. Jameson, Vice-President; R. T. Shaw, Secretary 
and Treasurer. 

Kansas City Gun Club. — Meets monthly at the Exposition Grounds. J. K. 
Stark, President; George C. Sharp, Secretary; J. H. McGee, Treasurer. 

Kansas City Amateur Shooting Club. — J. S Chase, President; J. E. Guin- 
otte, Secretary; Al. Walmsley, Treasurer. Meets on the second Monday of each 
month, at No. 10 West Fourth street. 

The Caledonian Society. — Meets at 814 Main street, Tuesday evenings. John 
H. McArthur, Secretary. 

Arion Singing Club. — Meets at Turner Hall every Tuesday and Thursday 
evening. F. A. Nichy, Secretary; Henry Steubneroch, President; Adolph Ott, 
Treasurer. 

Orpheus Club. — C. A. Rollert, President; Alexander Lux, Secretary. 

Fritzreuter Club. — Meets at Diamond Building, 822 Main street, every sec- 
ond Thursday. J. H. Paulsen, President; Henry B. Toelle, Recording Secre- 
tary; Wm. Schultz, Financial Secretary. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 235 

Young Men's Christian Association. — Organized May 21, 1876. The first 
officers of the organization were : John Doggett, President ; J. L. Whittemore, 
Secretary; J. W. Byers, Treasurer. Present officers: W. McDonald, President; 
A. G. Trumbull, Vice-President; J. W. Byers, Treasurer; C. Mainhart, Corre- 
sponding Secretary; C. E. Pax on. General Secretary. Meetings are held at the 
rooms, 718 Main street, the first Tuesday in each month. Religious meetings 
weekly. 

Railroad Young Men's Christian Association. — Rooms, 1054 Union avenue, 
opposite west end of Union Depot. Officers: W. H. Reed, President; J. M. 
Lee, Treasurer; H. F. Williams, General Secretary. Meets every month. Re- 
ligious meetings weekly. 

B'nai Brith Society. — M. Benas, Secretary; Julian Haar, Treasurer. Meets 
second and fourth Mondays in each month, in Good Templars Hall. 

Olympic Club. — This society was organized during the winter of 1881 with a 
large membership. It has increased in numbers and influence since its com- 
mencement, and has been successful in carrying out the object aimed at in its 
organization: namely the encouragement of physical culture and social intercourse. 
Meetings are held regularly every month in their rooms in the Ridge building on 
Main street opposite Eleventh street. They now have one hundred and thirty 
members. The present officers are : T. B. Bullene, President; J. W. Snyder, 
First Vice-President; G. M. Dean, Second Vice-President; C. C. Courtney, 
Secretary; M. O. Dean, Treasurer; Dr. W. B. Sawyer, Captain. These officers 
are members of the Board of Directors, ex-officio. Besides these are three mem- 
bers of the club: W. N. Allen, E. P. Burroughs, W. E. Taylor, who constitute 
the Board. 

For the following history of the schools, we are indebted to Prof. J. M. 
Greenwood : 

SKETCH OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM FROM 1 867 TO 1 882. 

In 1865, Missouri, shattered and bleeding at every pore, was without a pub- 
lic school system. Private schools and colleges, which had flourished in other 
years, had been abandoned, or were eking out a precarious existence. Even the 
State University scarcely had life enough to open its hall doors for the admission 
of students. During the strife, which had raged for four years with merciless 
fury, and devastated all parts of the State, the minds of the people had been di- 
verted from all peaceful and ennobling pursuits; their affections alienated so that 
neighbor not unfrequently regarded neighbor with feelings of suspicion and dis- 
trust, and at times with intense hatred. Society was torn asunder, and amid the 
general convulsion, the education of the youth was almost entirely neglected. 
The children were growing up illiterates, and unless something could be done, 
and that speedily, a cloud of ignorance would soon overshadov/ the whole State. 
At this crisis, laws were enacted, specifying how to organize country, village, 
town ,and city schools; also the mode of levying taxes for buildings and school 
purposes, and how to collect the same. The duties and qualifications of school 
officers and teachers were clearly set forth. 

This was a new chapter in the history of Missouri. The measure met with 
violent opposition in many sections of the State. The conflict raged in town 
and country. In some localities the citizens positively refused to organize for 
school purposes, and displayed their hostility to the measure in various ways. 

The press^ the public educator, in some counties fell in with the opposition or 
maintained a lofty silence. Kansas City fared no better than other localities. 
Public opinion was divided here as elsewhere. Business interests and industries 
of the west and south drew people here from all sections of the Union. When 
they came they made their homes among a generous and noble-hearted people. 
The rankling passions which other and bitter years had produced, were soon 



236 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

extinguished or hushed in silence. Reason^ parental love, and philanthropy pre- 
vailed. Schools must be established and the children educated, was the decision 
of the majority. 

Thus matters stood when the Kansas City School District was organized 
under an act entitled : "An act authorizing any city, town or villaj,e to organize 
for school purposes, with special privileges," approved March 15, 1866; also an 
act entitled : " An act authorizing any city, town or village to organize for school 
purposes with special privilege," approved March 19, 1866. 

By virtue and under the authority of this act, the Board of Education of 
Kansas City was organized August i, 1867, composed of the following gentle- 
men : W. E. Sheffield, President ; H. C. Kumpf, Secretary ; J. A. Bachman, 
Treasurer; Ed. H. Allen, T. B. Lester and E. H. Spalding; J. B. Bradley, 
Superintendent and teacher in Central school. 

Immediately after the organization of the Board, Mr. Kumpf retired, and 
Mr. A. A. Bainbydge was chosen to fill the vacancy. There were at this time 
2,150 children of school age, living within the limits of the school district. There 
was not a public school building in the city. Disorganization reigned supreme. 
The city was utterly destitute of all school accommodations, and there was not a 
dollar available for school expenses. The buildings that could be rented for 
school purposes were old deserted dwellings, unoccupied store rooms and damp, 
gloomy basements in some of the churches. But the Board was in earnest, and 
every effort was made to put the schools in operation. In October, 1867, the 
schools were formally opened in rented rooms, which had been hastily and 
scantily furnished. Into these unattractive abodes the children were huddled 
together to receive instruction. A Sperintendent and sixteen teachers were em- 
ployed during the year, but as no statistics of the school work are found in the 
records, it is impossible to give a satisfactory account of what was done. If the 
work in the schools was unsatisfactory, the energy of the Board was unabated. 
Preparations for a grand work continued. Sites were purchased, bonds issued 
and school houses erected. The rapid and marvelous growth of the city, while 
it brought a large influx to the school population, did not produce a correspond- 
ing increase in the valuation of the taxable property of the district. 

THE YEAR 1 868-9. 

The school year of 1868-9, with the exception of the improvements ih build- 
ings and the purely business character of the proceedings, has scarcely left a trace 
in statistical information. Enough is preserved to show positively that the schools 
were taught, but the superintendent made no report to the Board of Education. 
What was done, or how it was done, are matters of conjecture. 

One change only was made in the Board. Patrick Shannon was chosen 
the successor of Mr. Spalding. Prof. E. P. Tucke was elected superintendent, 
which position he held one year. There was also a tremendous increase in the 
enumeration of school children. The number reported was 3,287, a gain of fifty- 
three per cent, over the previous year. At the close of the year twelve rooms 
belonged to the district and twenty one teachers had been employed. 

THE SCHOOLS LOCATIONS WHEN ERECTED ACCOMMODATIONS. 

Washington school, southwest corner of Independence avenue and Cherry, 
was opened in April, 1868; enlarged in 1869; contains eight rooms, and willseat 
five hundred pupils. 

Humboldt school, northwest corner of Twelfth and Locust ; opened Novem- 
ber, 1868; six rooms; branch estabhshed in 1875, Eleventh and Locust, three 
rooms; total, nine rooms; will seat five hundred and forty pupils. 

Central school, southeast corner Eleventh and Locust, was purchased in 
June, 1869; enlarged in 1875 to nine rooms, and will seat four hundred pupils. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 237 

Franklin school, northeast corner Fourteenth and Jefferson ; opened October, 
1868; seven rooms, and will seat four hundred and twenty pupils. 

Lincoln school, Ninth street; opened November, 1869; removed in 187810 
Eleventh and Campbell"; six rooms, and will seat four hundred pupils. 

Lathrop school, southeast corner of Eight and May; completed March, 
1870; seven rooms, and will seat four hundred and fifty pupils. 

Morse school, on Charlotte and Twentieth; erected in 1870 and enlarged in 
187 1 ; eight rooms, and will seat five hundred pupils. 

Benton school, northeast corner Thirteenth and Liberty; erected in 1870 
and enlarged in 187 1 ; eight rooms, and will seat four hundred and eighty pupils. 

Woodland school, eastern part of the district; erected 187 1 ; opened in 
November, 1871 ; four rooms, and will seat two hundred and forty pupils. 

As will be seen, the work on the school buildings was pushed forward with 
wonderful rapidity. April, 1868, the Washington school was ready for the 
admission of pupils, and before the close of the year the Humboldt and Central 
schools were ready for occupancy. The Franklin and Lincoln were completed 
in 1869; the Lathrop, Morse and Benton, in 1871. 

1869-70. 

Two changes were made in the Board of Education in 1869-70. The retir- 
ing members were Messrs. Bachman and Allen. Messrs. Craig and Karnes were 
chosen their successors and have remained in the Board ever since. 

The organization of the Board, September, 1869, was as follows : 

W. E. Sheffield, President ; A A. Bainbridge, Secretary ; James Craig, 
Treasurer; T. B. Lester, Patrick Shannon, J. V. C. Karnes. John R. Phillips, 
Superintendent. 

This school year marks a new era in the history and progress of the schools. 
Prior to the organization in September. Prof. John R. Phillips was elected Super- 
intendent, which position he filled till August, 1874. 

The work in the school-rooms was now molded into definite form. Classi- 
fication and grading, which had been sadly neglected, were enforced at the 
beginning of the first term ; the teachers were required to adhere as nearly as 
possible to the tabulated courses of study. History of the United States and the 
elements of Physiology were now taught for the first time since the organization 
of the schools. Notwithstanding the one-sided culture which the pupils had re- 
ceived in former years, the close of the year found the schools in a prosperous 
condition. The number of pupils enrolled was 3,034 ; average number belong- 
ing, 2,671 ; average daily attendance, 1,388; per cent, of attendance, 83. 

1870-1. 

The Board, organized September, 1870, was as follows: 

W. E. Sheffield, President; Joseph Feld, Secretary; J. V. C. Karnes, 
Treasurer; James Craig, T. B. Lester. Henry Tobener. 

The statistics of this year show that it was one of decided progress and in- 
creased prosperity. The number of pupils was larger, the attendance more 
regular and punctual, the discipline more healthy and judicious, the instruction 
more exact and thorough than during any preceding year ; enumeration of school 
children was 4,046; the enrollment, 3,866; the average number belonging, 
2,237 5 the average daily attendance, 2,049, ^^^ the percentage of attendance 91. 
The number of teachers employed was 42. 

1871-2. 

There were some changes in the Board this year. 

W. E. Sheffield, President ; James Craig, Secretary ; J. V. C. Karnes, 
Treasurer ; Joseph Feld, H. H. Buckner and Henry R. Seeger, members. 



238 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

The total number of persons in the district of school age was 5,850; 
the enrollment, 4,042; average number belonging, 2,295; average daily atten- 
dance, 2,036; number of teachers employed, 50; percentage of attendance, 91. 

The course of study received some modifications this year. Too much 
prominence had been given to Geography, and it was discontinued in the two 
highest grades and Botany introduced instead, which alternated with History of 
the United States. Some little progress was thought to have been made in vocal 
music, under a special teacher. The regular teachers, so it appears from the 
published report of this year, had, with few exceptions, not encouraged the 
music teacher in his labors. 

Drawing had a worse fate than music. The instruction was not systematic 
and therefore unproductive of practical results. Superintendent Phillips said: 
" I see no remedy except in employing a thoroughly competent special teacher to 
superintendent and direct the teaching of mechanical and object drawing in all the 
schools." 

1872-3-4. 

No report of the schools was published from 1872 to 1874. The superin- 
tendent preserved some of the statistics, which indicate continued progress in 
the quantity and quality of the work. Public sentiment in favor of the schools 
was forming and crystallizing, and whatever opposition there had once been was 
rapidly dying out. An effort was made during this period to teach ' ' object les- 
sons " after the plan proposed by Mr. Sheldon. The results in the lower grades 
were not satisfactory, and the work in this direction was virtually abandoned. 

When the Board was organized in September, 1872, W. E. Sheffield was 
elected President; James Craig, Secretary, and J. V. C. Karnes, Treasurer. 
The other members were T. K. Hanna, Henry R. Seeger and Joseph Feld. 
John R. Phillips, Superintendent. 

The enumeration of school children in 1872 was 6,198, of whom 4,138 were 
enrolled in the schools. The average number belonging was 2,361; the average 
daily attendance, 2,034 ; the percentage of attendance, 90. There were em- 
ployed 57 teachers, including the special teachers of music and German. 

The school year of 1873-4 produced the following changes in the Board: 
Major Henry A. White and Mr. C. A. Chace were elected the successors of W. 
E. Sheffield and Joseph Feld, the retiring members. The only change in the of- 
ficers was that Henry A. White was elected President. The Secretary and 
Treasurer were re-elected. 

Each year the schools continued to improve. The pupils were more regu- 
lar in their attendance, better discipline was maintained, and thera was a per- 
ceptible improvement in methods of instruction. 

The total number of teachers employed was 56. Enumeration of children 
of school age, 6,636, a small increase over the preceding year. There were en- 
rolled in the schools, 4,164 pupils; the average number belonging, 2,517; aver- 
age daily attendance, 2,328; and percentage of attendance, 91.5. 

SUPERINTENDENT JOHN R. PHILLIPS. 

Supt. Phillips resigned July, 1874, after having charge of the city schools 
for five years. He found the schools unorganized, ungraded, and each school 
independent of the others. There was an entire absence of anything like a com- 
mon unity in the work. He addressed himself diligently to the reformation of 
abuses that had crept into the schools. A course of study, such as had the sanc- 
tion of the best educators of our country, was adopted, embracing seven years 
for the ward schools and four years for the high school department. As an or- 
ganizer, Mr. Phillips planned and executed well. His entire administration was 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 239 

eminently successful, and he laid a solid foundation at the beginning of his work 
here to which he conscientiously adhered. 

In his official relations with the Board of Education and the teachers he was 
always courteous and gentlemanly. His sense of right and justice were two of 
the most prominent traits of his character, and he carried these ideas into all the 
practical duties of Ufe. 

November, 1874, after a brief illness, Prof. John R. PhiUips died at his resi- 
dence on Forest avenue. Thus passed away in the prime of his manhood one 
who had devoted five years to building up of the cause of popular education in 
Kansas City. His loss was universally deplored by all classes of citizens. 

1874-5- 

In July, 1874, Mr. J. M. Greenwood was elected Superintendent, which 
position he still occupies. 

For the school year of 1874-5, the officers of the board were unchanged. 
Mr. R. H. Hunt and Mr. James Craig were elected to fill the vacancies which 
occurred in September, 1874. The board thus organized was composed of the 
following gentlemen : Messrs. H. A. White, President ; J. V. C. Karnes, Secre- 
tary ; James Craig Treasurer; Thos. K. Hanna, C. A. Chace and R. H. Hunt. 

Enumeration of school children April, 1874, was 7,738; and the following 
year 8,144. The number of pupils enrolled was 4,262, an increase of sixty-six 
over the previous year. Fifty-five rooms were owned by the district. During 
the year there were fifty-eight teachers employed in the schools. 

Upon taking charge of the schools Mr. Greenwood arranged a syllabus of the 
course of study that would serve as a guide for the teachers. Using this, the 
work was systematized in all the grades. Special attention was given to language 
and composition exercises. To remedy defects in reading the teachers received 
special drill in phonic analysis. How to teach each branch in the ward schools 
and how to adapt the instruction to the capacity of the pupils were fully explained 
at the monthly meetings. 

The plan of promoting upon the final examination only was discontinued ; 
and promotions were made upon the " mean" average of the written examinations, 
the daily work, and the daily deportment record. Excellent results were pro- 
duced in the schools, and greater incentives to good conduct established. Self- 
control became an important factor in school management. 

1875-6. 

The school year opened favorably. Messrs. Hanna and White retired, and 
Mr. Henry Switzer and Mr. E. L. Martin were elected their successors. 

ORGANIZATION SEPTEMBER, 1875. 

Officers: J. V. C. Karnes, President; Henry Switzer, Secretary; James 
Craig, Treasurer. Members : J. V. C. Karnes, Robert H. Hunt, James Craig, 
Henry Switzer, C. A. Chace, E. L. Martin. 

STATISTICS. 

Total number of persons, between six and twenty years of age, 7,126; total 
enrollment of pupils in the schools, 4,301 ; number of teachers, 60. During the 
summer the Central school building was erected. The total expenditures for all 
purposes per treasurer's report, was $87,262.98. 

In methods of instruction the following principles were closely adhered to : 

1. The teacher must understand the entire nature of the pupil to be educated 
— physically, morally, intellectually, socially and esthetically. 

2. This knowledge can be acquired by studying the body and its relations to 
the mind and reciprocally. 



240 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

3. The subject to be taught must always be adapted to the capacity of the 
pupil. 

4. In teaching, pass by easy steps from the known to the unknown. 

5. In teaching, first present the concrete phase of the subject before the 
abstract by addressing both the eye and ear. 

6. Small children, especially, need a great deal of practice and but little 
theory. 

7. Teach one thing only at a time. 

8. Mark the difference between thorough teaching and exhaustive teaching. 

9. The teacher must know the subject matter to be taught. 

SUMMARY OF THE YEAR'S WORK. 

The work of the year was quite satisfactory. Decided improvement in 
teaching some of the branches was made, and the instruction in other branches 
more thorough, systematic and rational than ever before. Reading was better 
taught, and there appeared to be much greater interest taken in the subject than 
formerly. The reading of the pupils was, generally, natural, the articulation 
plain and distinct, and there seemed to be an earnest desire on the part of teachers 
and pupils to express the sentiments and feelings of the author in appropriate 
language. 

Perhaps one of the marked improvements was in teaching Geography. This 
subject in nearly all the schools was brought to a fair degree of perfection. 

The year before, the first attempt was made to teach writing on a scientific 
basis. Most cheerfully the teachers made the effort, and the rapid progress of 
the pupils surpassed all expectations. 

Drawing received considerable attention ; many pupils made wonderful prog- 
ress. As a means of cultivating the hand, the eye, the imagination, the taste 
to appreciate the artistic in painting, sculpture, architecture, and designs of all 
kinds, drawing is invaluable. 

Composition by degrees worked its way into all the schools, so that now it 
was one of the regular exercises of each week. 

During the year a public library, to be under the immediate supervision of 
the board, and to be as permanent as any other department of the school system, 
was established. In aid of this movement three entertainments were given by 
the principals of the Lathrop, Humboldt and Washington schools, from which 
was realized $446. 50, and to this was added the very handsome sum of $490, 
given by the patriotic ladies of the Centennial Association. From this 
beginning, together with the many contributions from the citizens, the foundation 
of a library was laid which will greatly increase the efficiency of our schools, and 
exert a direct influence on the prosperity of our city. The library was opened 
November, 1876, with a thousand volumns of choice works on the shelves. 

1876-7. 

The organization of the board remained the same as the year previous, and 
there was no change in the membership. 

The school population was 8,303; the total enrollment of pupils 4,334, in- 
structed by 58 teachers. Instruction in the German language was discontinued 
in the District Schools but retained in the Central school. 

The financial condition of the district steadily improved. In the schools 
themselves everything was most satisfactory, and it was undoubtedly the most 
successful year since the organization of the schools, its workings becoming better 
understood by the people, and they lent a hearty support. In every department 
there has been the most perfect harmony, and one aim has seemingly prompted 
all alike, and that was for the greatest possible efficiency and progress. 

A thousand volumes were added to the library. It seemed to meet a public 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 241 

necessity, and the demand has been constantly increasing. There are now 
in the hbrary about two thousand volumes, embracing every line of reading and 
investigation. 

During the year the work of the board had been very pleasant. Not a single 
disturbing element from within, and but few complaints have come from without. 
The fame of the schools, their harmony and efficiency, has gone abroad, and that 
the educational growth is considered as marvelous as the commercial prosperity 
of the city. 

1877-8. 

Owing to a change in the school law the Board was not re-organized till 
April 1878. The only change in the officers that occurred was that Mr. E. L. 
Martin was elected Treasurer and Mr. James Craig General Agent. 

The total number of persons in the district was 9,622, of whom 4,622 
attended school, and were instructed by 59 teachers. 

The new Lincoln school building, consisting of seven rooms was erected at 
a total cost of $7,000. * 

On June 14, 1878, the public schools of Kansas City closed their eleventh 
year. From a small and doubtful beginning in the fall of 1867, they steadily 
grew in usefulness and prosperity until, with much pride and satisfaction, we can 
fairly say that they were now unsurpassed by any system of public instruction in 
the west. This high ground had been reached after much care and effort. To 
maintain this high standard it was necessary to ignore all sectarian and political 
influence, to preserve entire harmony in all the departments, and in the election 
of teachers to disregard all favoritism, and employ only those of the broadest cul- 
ture and most extended experience. 

The past year had been one of unusual success. There had been no dis- 
turbances of any kind. The teachers vied with one another in the full discharge 
of their important duties, and as an evidence of their efficiency and fidelity, 
upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, and with the concurrence of 
every member of the Board, the entire corps, without a single exception were all 
re-elected. 

1878-9. 

During this year one change only was made in the Board. Mr. R. L. Yea- 
ger having been elected successor to Mr. R. H. Hunt. 

The officers were re-elected so that there was no change in the organization. 

The school census shows the enumeration of persons of school age in the 
district to be 11,325, and the enrollment of pupils in school is 5,259, taught by 
sixty-two teachers. 

The rapid growth of the city rendered it necessary that increased school 
accommodations should be provided, and during the summer vacation additions 
were made to the Franklin and Humboldt school buildings, thus furnishing eight 
new and commodious rooms at a total cost of $8,640 ; but the crowded condition 
of the schools still remained a subject of constant and anxious consideration of the 
Board. All the schools were literally packed full of children, yet the entire 
working of the school system was highly satisfactory. 

187980. 

Since the last annual report, another school year has come and gone. This 
period has been marked by more than the usual changes in the educational 
management, the most important of which have been in the organization of the 
board: On October 31, 1879, James Craig, having removed from the State, re- 
signed the office of director, which he had held continuously since December 2, 
1869; and, on April 29, 1880, Henry Switzer died, leaving vacant the director- 
ship he had likewise held continuously since September 21, 1875. Both of these 
16 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 243 

were men of efficiency, thoroughly devoted to the work of establishing and per- 
fecting the public school system in our city. Their loss will be long felt by the 
community, and their memories deserve to be, and will be enshrined in the affections 
of a grateful people. Of these positions, the former was filled by the appointment 
and subsequent election of Gen. P'rank Askew, and the latter by the appoint- 
ment of Henry C. Kumpf, Esq., both of whom have been long and favorably 
known to our citizens. Mr. Craig had likewise been the business agent of the 
board for several years, and, upon his retirement, J. W. Perkins, late principal of 
the Washington school, was engaged to fill the place. He resigned recently and 
\V. E. Benson, late city clerk, was secured for the position which he now 
holds and fills most acceptably. With these exceptions, the board remains 
as heretofore. 

There was an increased enumeration of children this year over last of three 
thousand, eight hundred and fifty, (3,850,) making it necessary to greatly extend 
the school facilities. For that purpose, at the spring election, there was voted a two- 
mill tax for building purposes. The collection of this was anticipated and four- 
teen additional rooms were erected. This was accomplished by the erection 
of the Karnes school on Troost avenue, between Third and Fourth streets; 
by adding to the Lathrop, Woodland and Lincoln buildings, and by the 
purchase of a house in West Kansas, designed temporarily, for a branch of the 
Lincoln school. Year by year the schools grow in favor; the per cent, of 
attendance is larger ; the city is doubling itself every decade ; the proportion 
of children to taxable wealth is very great ; so under these circumstances, how 
to meet the pressing demands is a question of no ordinary importance. 

The school work of the p^st year has been entirely satisfactory. Every 
year is an improvement on the previous one. Our educational growth is keeping 
pace with our commercial. The people in their wise action, have directed the 
exclusion of all sectarian or political influences, and so the current of educational 
life flows smoothly on, widening and deepening as it flows. Our course of in- 
struction is not so comprehensive as that attempted in many places, but that which 
is undertaken is well done, and the preparation for useful, intelligent citizenship is 
now within the reach of every child in this city. 

The same unity of feeling pervades every department that has characterized 
the school management for years past. The people at all times have accorded a 
hearty support. From the day the public school system was established in this 
city, no step has been taken backward, and there is every reason to expect a 
continuance of this increasing prosperity. 

1880-81. 

The schools closed June 9, 1881, after having completed the most prosper- 
ous year's work since their organization. For seven years the utmost harmony- 
has prevailed in every department — the Board of Education, the Superintendent, 
and teachers — all having worked unceasingly to bring the schools to the highest 
degree of perfection. From sixteen teachers in 1867, the corps has increased 
till at present it numbers one hundred and three earnest and faithful workers. 
Complete preparations have been made to furnish and equip sixteen additional 
rooms during the present summer so that they will be ready for occupancy when 
the schools open in September. 

Under the skillful financial management of the Board, all claims of whatso- 
ever character have been promptly paid on demand, and the entire business for 
the last six years has been conducted on a cash basis. 

In 1873 the first class, consisting of four members, graduated from the Cen- 
tral school, and a class has graduated every year since. The total number of 
graduates is 136, of whom forty-three are males. 

Since the foundation of the library in 1876, it had continued to increase in 



244 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY, 

usefulness and importance, and to attend to it properly required so much of the 
Superintendent's time from his other duties, that the Board last March employed 
Mrs. Carrie W. Judson as librarian and to perform such clerical duties at the 
office of the Board of Education as the Superintendent might direct. The library, 
is now kept open every day and its duties promptly attended to. 

Already there are 3,000 volumes in the library, and large additions will be 
made during the year. 

There are 16,981 children between six and twenty years of age in this school 
district, and 8,026 enrolled in the schools. 

The Board remains unchanged in its organization and membership. 

The public schools of this city have achieved a reputation for substantial 
work which places them among the foremost in the country. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
KANSAS CITY— WHY SHE IS AND WHAT SHE IS. 

A Summary of the Facts of Her History — The Facts that Caused Her Growth — Het Afarkets, 
Her Railroad System, and Fast Freight Lines — Steamship Agencies — The New West, and Its 
Kesources. 

The origin and development of Kansas City were based upon certain facts 
inherent in the nature of things, which, in this closing chapter, it will be well to 
review. 

It will be seen in the preceding pages that these facts relate to transportation 
facilities. The situation now is as advantageous as in the beginning, and will 
in the future, as in the past, maintain for this city a controUing position. 

In the first place, it was the junction of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers at 
this point that induced the early French traders and trappers to locate here. Their 
means of transportation was by packing and by batteaux on the rivers, the latter 
being by far the best. The junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, there- 
fore, afforded them this facility in a much more extended area of country than 
any other point in the west. It practically controlled the entire north and west, 
from the British Possessions to the 38th degree of latitude, and west to the Rocky 
Mountains. 

Again, it was the angle in the Missouri River, at this point, that directed the 
Santa Fe trade hither. Steamboat navigation on the Missouri being begun almost 
simultaneously with that trade, afforded cheaper transportation than by wagons; 
hence it was employed to this, the nearest point to Santa Fe. The character of 
the country between this angle in the river and Santa Fe, and its superior facilities 
for making wagon roads and subsisting trains, held it here against all attempts to 
divert it to the waters of the Red and Arkansas Rivers. Between here and Santa 
Fe were high divides, with plenty of grass and water, while from the Arkansas 
and Red Rivers there were more streams to cross, yet less water and wide stretches 
of sandy plains. 

The same superior natural facilities for transportation made this the starting 
point for the expeditions to Mexico during the war. In was the nearest point to 
Mexico to which troops and supplies could be moved by water, and afforded the 
best roads. 

It was the same natural facility that diverted hither the larger part of the 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 245 

great California and Utah emigration. It was the most westerly point to which 
water transportation could be had, and the country beyond afforded the best roads 
water grades, and fewer streams. 

WHY THE TRADE CAME TO KANSAS CITY. 

These facilities, however, were equally available to Independence and West- 
port, and as both these places were in existence before Kansas City, and fast grew 
rich in the Santa Fe trade, the outfitting of Mexican expeditions, and the overland 
emigration to California, it was another fact that finally concentrated these inter- 
ests at Kansas City. This fact was the superior natural landing for steamboats at 
this point. The angle in the river here threw the water against the shore at the 
point where the city is located, making here a rock levee, better than any im- 
provement could make one at any other point on the river. This made this a 
preferred point by the river men. Again, the contiguity of prairie for holding 
and feeding teams made this a preferred point by the freighters and emigrants. 
These facts led to the concentration of these interests at the spot where the city 
now stands, and caused the growth of the city up to 1857, by which time it had 
distanced all existing rivals. 

It was the same natural facilities that diverted overland freighting to Colo- 
rado, which began in 1858. It was the most westerly point to which the freight 
could be transported by water, and hence nearest to the destination of the freight; 
whether for mines or government posts, the water, grades and light ascents afford 
the best wagon roads. It was largely the lack of these advantages that caused 
Leavenworth, Atchison and St. Joe to fall behind in competition for this trade. It 
was no nearer to the destination of the freight to take it to those places, while it 
was further from the starting point and cost more as river freight. At the same 
time the country between them and the points of destination did not afford such 
good roads. This fact was illustrated in the case of Leavenworth to a marked 
degree, as she, after spending two years and considerable money in attempting to 
open a route of her own, was at last compelled to make a road to the Kansas 
River and bridge that stream a few miles west of Kansas City to obtain access to 
Kansas City's route. 

When railroads began to be extended westward from the Mississippi river, 
the facts above stated had already caused the development at Kansas City of so 
large a trade as to make it an attractive point for them, besides which the natural 
facilities for trade beyond Kansas City made it almost necessary for them to come 
here to connect with the trade of the plains and mountains. In addition to this, 
they could reach Kansas City on waiter grades, which made it cheaper and 
easier to build and operate the roads. No such advantages could be secured by 
seeking other places. These facts controlled their direction. 

In the construction of roads to the westward a similar state of facts existed. 
In the first place, there was a trade already established, and in the second place 
there were water grades. Therefore, Congress, infixing the eastern terminus and 
route of the great Pacific Railroad, fixed it at Kansas City, and defined its route 
as the existing route of trade. 

Again, when Southern Kansas was settled the Kansas River was found to be 
a great barrier between the people and the river cities of their own State, while 
Kansas City, located at the mouth of that stream, was accessible to them. The 
same facts had previously concentrated here the trade of the Indians, after their 
removal to the west. This brought the trade to Kansas City, and railroads have 
been constructed to accommodate it. So great were these natural advantages 
that the disturbed condition of society during the war, and the depredations of 
thieves and bush-whackers upon the trade of Kansas City could not entirely drive 
trade to other places. And so soon as this unnatural order of things passed away 
he trade fell naturally into its old channels. 



246 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

When the stock growers of Texas began to seek a market for their cattle 
they soon found Kansas City the nearest point to their herding grounds at which 
they could avail themselves of competing rates to eastern markets. 

When beef packers, attracted by the cheapness of Texas cattle, sought an 
adjacent point for packing purposes, they found Kansas City the nearest point to 
the source of supply where adequate transportation and banking facilities were 
available. 

The location of the packers here, together with the necessity of re-shipping 
the cattle here, brought into existence a market for Texas cattle, which in its 
turn brought here the product of cattle and hogs of the adjacent country, and 
created the live-stock market. 

The directions of the railroads, as determined by the facts above stated, ex- 
isting at the time of their construction, made Kansas City the gateway through 
which all merchandise going into the country west of her, and for all grain prod- 
ucts going to market, must pass. The fact that one system of railroads was pro- 
jected to Kansas City and another beyond made this the terminal point for both 
and rendered re-shipment necessary. These facts have greatly stimulated the 
jobbing trade which had already grown out of the outfitting of freighters and the 
supplying of immigrants, and have called into existence here the grain market. 

It is a well established policy with railroads to make such rates as will con- 
trol, as far as possible, the shipment of freight to their termini instead of allow- 
ing it to be switched off to other roads at intermediate stations. It is also a well 
established policy with railroads to make rates for long distances proportionately 
less than short. These facts make Kansas City a preferred point by all the rail- 
roads, because it is their termini, which is a great advantage over any other place 
in the Missouri Valley, and secure to her such favorable rates to and from the 
Atlantic cities, that she is able to maintain a higher range of prices in her markets 
than any other place in the valley, while she can supply merchandise at lower 
prices. These facts have greatly stimulated her markets and her trade. 

These latter are existing facts that for the future give Kansas City a controll- 
ing position, as they have done in the past, and will remain so as long as railroads 
continue to be managed as they are now. 

But there must come a time when better regulations will be established and 
the present confused and arbitrary changing of rates abolished. When such a 
change takes place, the new system cannot but embrace a reasonable allowance 
of profit on their business. Then roads that can be most cheaply operated will 
be the cheapest roads to commerce. These will of course be the water grade 
roads. In that situation Kansas City will be still the possessor of superior ad- 
vantages, as she has two water grade roads to the Mississippi River, two to the 
Rocky Mountains, two to the north to Sioux City and Omaha, and two to the 
south, which, owing to the topography of the country, are equal to water grade 
roads. 

THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. 

The facts narrated in this history impress two important lessons. The first 
of these is that, in a free country like America, commerce establishes its own 
capitals, and that in doing so it is governed by natural laws as fixed and immuta- 
ble as the laws governing the manifestation of physical phenomena. The pur- 
pose of commerce is primarily to make profits for those engaging in it, and the 
profit being fixed the less the exertion and hazard of making it the better, or the 
exertion and hazard being fixed the greater the profit the better. The tendency 
of commerce, therefore, is to accomplish its purposes in the speediest and easiest 
way, and when left free it invariably finds and accepts that way. In other 
words, motion follows the line of least resistance, which is the great physical law 
to which commerce no less than all other kinds of movement is subservient. The 
second of these lessons is that, a people active and united for common purposes. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 247 

and possessing equal advantages are far more likely to succeed than a people who 
are divided or inactive. Nay, they may, and often do overcome even superior 
advantages. This is illustrated in a most marked degree in the efforts of the 
people of Kansas City at the close of the war of the rebellion. Prior to that time, 
they had great natural advantages which made her well nigh invincible by any 
rivalry. But at that time her trade had been dissipated and her people driven 
away by the facts and exigencies of war. A new era was dawning in which the 
railroad was to succeed the steamboat and wagon as a means of transportation and 
travel. The advantage was now with her rivals, except that she was situated at 
the junction of water grades, which were not then appreciated as they are now. 
At this juncture her people became united again, notwithstanding the acerbities 
of war from which they had so recently emerged, and by promptness, vigor and 
sagacity, secured the advantages others thought they had already in their hands. 
Kansas City has but to preserve this unity of action to acquire the trade of the 
whole trans-Missouri country west to Arizona and south to Mexico. 

THE POSITION AND TRADE OF THE CITY. 

Kansas City is the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco, having 
double the population of any other. 

She is the undisputed metropolis of the New West, embracing western Mis- 
souri, Kansas, southwestern Iowa and southern Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico 
and northern Texas. 

She is the financial center of that vast region, its banks keeping their depos- 
its in her banks and drawing their exchange upon them. 

Her jobbing merchants supply this entire country with merchandise. 

She has the only live stock market west of St. Louis — a market that ranks 
as second or third in the United States, and where the hogs and cattle of the 
country mentioned are marketed. 

She has the largest packing business west of St. Louis, and the largest cattle 
packing business in the world. 

She is the grain market for all the country mentioned, and is the best winter 
wheat market in the United States, and she has the only grain market west of St. 
Louis where grain is sold on call. 

HER RAILROAD SYSTEM. 

Her railroad system is as follows : 

First — The Missouri Pacific, from St. Louis to Kansas City. 

Second — The Missouri Pacific to Leavenworth and Atchison, connecting 
with the Central Branch of the Union Pacific, for northern and northwestern 
Kansas, and the Atchison & Nebraska for Lincoln and Columbus, Nebraska. 

Third — The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, for St. Louis, Toledo and Chicago. 

Fourth — The Hannibal & St. Joseph, from Kansas City to Chicago over the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, from Quincy. 

Fifth — The Chicago & Alton Railroad, for St. Louis and Chicago. 

Sixth — The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, for Chicago. 

Seventh— The Kansas' City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs, to Omaha, Sioux 
City and St. Paul. 

Eighth — The Union Pacific, to Denver, Salt Lake and San Francisco. It 
connects with the Colorado system of railroads, which it controls, except the 
Denver and Rio Grande. 

Ninth— The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, to Pueblo and Canon City, 
Colorado, Santa Fe, New Mexico and California cities, by the Central Pacific. 

Tenth — The Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas to Coffeyville, Win- 
field and Wellington. 

Eleventh— The Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf road, to Baxter Springs, 
Joplin and Springfield. 



248 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

Twelfth — Kansas City & Eastern, to Lexington, Mo. 

Thirteenth— The Missouri Pacific (M. K. & T. Branch), via Pleasant Hill 
for Galveston, Houston and intermediate Texas points. 

FAST FREIGHT AND STEAMSHIP LINES. 

The following named fast freight lines have agents located here soliciting 
business for them : Star Union and National, Great Western Dispatch, Erie and 
Pacific Dispatch, Canada Southern, Merchants' Dispatch, Continental, White 
Line, Blue Line, Southshore Line, Commercial Express and the Midland. 

The following named steamship lines have agencies here and contract for 
freight to Europe at this point : National, White Star, Great Western, Guion, 
Cunard, Inman, Anchor, State, Wilson's, Hamburg, American Packet Company, 
North German Lloyd, White Cross, Netherlands, American, of New York, 
Montreal and New Orleans, Red Star and American, of Philadelphia. 

AS A MANUFACTURING CENTER. 

As a manufacturing center, Kansas City has unequaled advantages in her 
cheap and abundant coal, and in the cheapness and abundance of materials 
afforded by the contiguous country, a brief summary of which will be found 
further on in this chapter. 

POSITION AND TRADE. 

True, this city does not yet supply all the merchandise, nor market all the 
products of the vast region tributary to her. The country and the city, com- 
mercially speaking, are but a quarter of a century old. The people coming in 
from all quarters, as emigrants always do, at first look back to the point from 
whence they came for supplies and for markets. It takes time to establish new 
associations. This city, as a depot of supply, is not to exceed fifteen years old, 
and as a market not to exceed ten, but her development in these respects is, for 
rapidity, without a parallel in the history of cities. She has trade relations estab- 
lished throughout the domain, and now she reaches a point where all competitors 
must give way forever. She sends merchandise to Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, 
Missouri, Iowa, New Mexico and Texas, and though this trade has not been in 
existence to exceed ten years she has now nearly excluded all competitors from 
the markets for the cattle of Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Indian Ter- 
ritory, New Mexico and western Missouri; the hogs of western Missouri, Kansas, 
southeastern Iowa, southern Nebraska and northern Texas; the sheep and wool 
of Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, and the wheat of western Missouri, Kan- 
sas and southern Nebraska, and partly of southwestern Iowa. 

That she will in a few years market all the products of this vast area and 
supjily it with all its merchandise, is certain. Her railway lines penetrate it, 
radiating from her in all directions. The railway systems of the entire area cen- 
ters at Kansas City, the roads that do not terminate here making their connection 
with those that do. The absence of navigable waters makes the railways the sole 
arteries of commerce, and that they will bear the products of the country to Kan- 
sas City, and bear the merchandise from Kansas City, is as certain as that they 
radiate from Kansas City to all parts of the country. 

It is a remarkable fact that the markets of Kansas City came into existence 
and grew to nearly equal importance with those of St. Louis and Chicago — in 
some respects to a controlling position — within five years, while there was little 
visible growth in the city and little immigration into the country. It is a remark- 
able fact also that during the same period, and under the same conditions, the 
mercantile business of the city was quadrupled, and has continued to grow with 
unprecedented rapidity since. The significance of these facts is unmistakable. 
It simply means the rapid, intense concentration of the trade of the country at 
Kansas City. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 249 

Since, therefore, Kansas City already so largely controls the trade of this 
vast area, and since its intense and speedy concentration here is assured by the 
facts above stated, it manifests that her growth will be measured by that of the 
country. It remains only for us to review the resources of the country and com- 
pare them with those of districts commercially tributary to the great cities of the 
world, to arrive at some idea of what Kansas City must become. 

In this we cannot avail ourselves of the exact statistics offered by old, settled 
and developed countries ; ours is so new that we as yet scarcely know the extent 
of its possibihties — we know only the nature of them, and have estimated mag- 
nitudes below which they can not fall. 



THE NEW WEST AND ITS RESOURCES. 

The area in which Kansas City trades may be defined as between the 17th 
and 29th meridian west from Washington and the 23d and 41st parallels of lati- 
tude, embracing a greater variety of climate and mineral and soil products than 
can be found in any similar area in the world. The great agricultural belt of the 
United States crosses it. It contains the greatest pastoral region in the world, 
and embraces the famous lead, zinc and coal mines of Missouri and Kansas, and 
the lead, coal, iron, silver and gold mines of Colorado and New Mexico. There 
are no adequate statistics of its population or productions. It is so new, and has 
been settling and developing so rapidly since the general census, in 1870, that 
the lacts of that census would grossly misrepresent its present condition, and the 
census of 1880 is not yet available. 

The general conditions of a country have much to do m determining its fit- 
ness for the habitation of man. These may be said to consist of climate, rainfall 
and soil, and we propose first to take a brief view of these. 

CLIMATE. 

As above stated, this country embraces a wide range of climate, due partly 
to the number of latitudes it embraces, and partly to the difference in altitude, the 
country rising from about seven hundred feet at the Missouri River, to about five 
thousand at the base of the mountains. However, the most desirable latitudes 
cross it, the country between the 38th and 42d parallels, both in this country and 
Europe, having been found to be the best adapted to vigorous manhood, longev- 
ity, and physical and mental effort. These parallels embrace, on both hemi- 
spheres, the largest per cent, of the population north of the equator, and the seat 
of man's highest achievements. 

The country between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains is 
specially favored in regard to climate. In the summer the prevailing wind is from 
south southeast to north northwest, and it comes from the Gulf of Mexico laden 
with moisture, which tempers the summer heats to a degree not experienced in 
the country east of the Mississippi River. In winter the prevailing wind is from 
north northwest to south southeast. It comes from the streams and currents of 
Pacific Ocean, and in crossing the mountain ranges of the west, its moisture is 
precipitated in snow, hence it comes to the prairies east of the mountains dry and 
bracing. It is needless to state the fact that a cold air that is dry is vastly less 
disagreeable or unhealthy than one that is damp. And this makes the difference 
between the country west of the Mississippi River and that east of it, in winter 
time; for while it is dry and healthful west of that stream, the northern wind 
east of it crosses the great lakes, and is laden with unhealthful moisture. 

It is due to this fact that the western plains are so healthful for man, and so 
favorable for live stock. Thousands of people who have become invalids in the 
east, have been restored by removing to the west. It is needless to cite instances ; 
they are so numerous as to have already established the reputation of the country, 
and to have made some parts of it, as Colorado, an asylum and resort for health- 



250 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

seekers. The atmosphere of the western plains is in winter deUcious — cool, dry 
and bracing. All animal life is invigorated, man grows stronger, and animals 
thrive and fatten better without shelter than they do with it in most eastern longi- 
tudes. Sounds penetrate to great distances, and the air is so elastic and clear 
that it seems, if it could be successfully struck as a bell, it would resound through- 
out the Heavens with clear, ringing music. Vegetation and dead animals do not 
decay, but dry up, the former retaining all its nutritive properties. The western 
prairies are covered in winter, not with dead grasses, but with fine, well cured 
and nutritive hay, upon which the immense herds of buffalo, elk and deer have 
lived and fattened throughout all the ages, and upon which it has now been found 
that cattle and sheep thrive eqally well. 

The following additional facts relative to the climate, we glean from the writ- 
ings of Dr. Latham : 

"The great belt of country between the Missouri River and the Pacific 
Ocean is bisected about equally north and south by the great snowy range. As 
you leave the Pacific Ocean or Missouri River, and approach these lofty moun- 
tains, you gradually rise until you are on the elevated table lands of the conti- 
nent. 

"Through these immense grassy tables the streams run which drain this 
mountain range of its snows and running waters. As you approach nearer to the 
mountain base, you reach greater elevations, and find the country better watered. 

"Intersecting this country, extending from the Missouri and Mississippi 
Rivers to the foot of the mountains, one thousand and one hundred miles north 
and south, and five hundred miles east and west, is the great Rio Grande, Neu- 
ces, San Antonio, Gaudaloupe, Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, Main Red, Washita, 
Canadian, Cimarron, Arkansas, Smoky Hill, Saline, Solomon, Republican, North 
and South Platte, Loup Fork, Niobrara, White Earth, Big Cheyenne, Little Mis- 
souri, Powder, Tongue, Rose Bud, Big Horn, Wind River, Yellowstone, Milk 
River, Mussel Shell, Marias, Jefferson Fork, and the head of the Missouri itself 
above the Yellowstone; each one in itself fitted to take rank with the great rivers 
of the world, and all aggregating fully twenty thousand miles of living crystal 
water. Each one of these is made up of innumerable smaller streams, some of 
which would be called great but for comparison with the larger parent streams, all 
making a complete network of mountain streams, draining every mountain and 
hillside, and watering every valley. 

' ' The western slope is equally well if not better watered. I do not think there 
is another country so well watered as the two Rocky Mountain slopes. From EI 
Paso del Norte, on the Mexican boundary, to the headwaters of the Missouri 
River, a distance, if measured by the windings of the great mountain range, of 
from eighteen hundred to two thousand miles, there is not five miles between the 
small mountain streams that run down the great slopes to form these larger ones. 
The valleys of these little, and even of the larger streams, are covered with a 
dense growth of tall grass ; while the higher grounds between these streams are 
covered with a shorter but sweeter growth. The bluffs bordering on the large 
streams on the plains are not high nor precipitous, but rounded and regular, and 
grass-grown. Nearer the mountains, these bluffs are higher and steeper, and 
in some instances amount to canons, and afford the best protection to all kinds 
of stock. 

' ' The country west of the foot of the Sierra Madre or Snowy Range, is divided 
into the great mountain valleys, such as the great parks of Colorado and the Lar- 
amie plains, all of which, to the height of nine thousand feet, are covered with 
luxuriant grass. These valleys are elevated table-lands like the steppes of Asia, 
with soil, climate and productions similar. I have devoted this much time to the 
physical geography of the trans-Missouri country, that your readers may know of 
its general formation, of its streams, etc. 

"There is, perhaps, no one subject so little understood as that of the climate 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 251 

of this country. It is entirely unlike the Atlantic and Mississippi Valley Stales. 
Judged by the climate of the States in the same latitude, and at the same altitude, 
four-fifths of this larger division of our country would be uninhabitable from 
snows and frosts. 

"On the x\tlantic coast, on the White and Alleghany Mountains, the perpetual 
snow line is or would be, seven thousand feet above the sea. In the same latitude 
on the Rocky Mountains the snow line is from twelve to fourteen thousand feet 
above. 

" The terminal line of vegetation on the White Mountains is five thousand 
feet; on the Alleghany Mountains it is five thousand five hundred feet; on the 
Black Hills, at Sherman, eight thousand and two hundred, and the still higher 
points, as high as nine thousand feet, are covered with luxuriant growth of grass. 

'' Strawberries are picked on the Snowy Range to the height of eleven thou- 
sand feet, and evergreen trees grow to the tops of the highest mountains, which 
are over fifteen thousand feet high. The great table lands and the elevated plains 
and valleys of the mountains, such as North, Middle and South Parks, and the 
Laramie plains, are one and two thousand feet above the tops of the Atlantic coast 
range mountains, and in the same latitude, are as mild as the Atlantic sea leTel. 

"There must be some powerful influence to make such wonderful differences 
on the same continent. 

" England, in latitute 62°, has a warmer climate than Long Island in 40°. 
Nova Scotia, 45°, is nearly frigid in temperature, while in France, in 49° north 
latitude — 4° farther north — is vine clad. While the inhabitant of Nova Scotia 
shivers over his fire, the Frenchman reclines in the shade of his "vine and fig 
tree." 

" The climate of Europe is tempered by the eternal waters of the Gulf Stream, 
which has been heated in the tropics. Not only is the climate on the immediate 
coast directly influenced and changed by the Gulf Stream, but the winds warmed 
by it give the vine, the ivy and the geranium to the Seine, the Rhine and the 
Elbe, and even invade the realms of the winter king on the sides of the lofty 
Alps, the Ural, the Appenines and the Pyrenees. 

" Thus it is here. The western coast of our continent is washed by a tropical 
stream greater and warmer than the Gulf Stream, and which makes San Fancisco, 
in the same latitude as Richmond, 14° warmer; makes Astoria, in the same lati- 
tude as Fort Brady, Michigan, 28° warmer in winter, and 12° warmer all the year 
round ; makes Sitka, Alaska, in the same latitude as Nain, Labrador, 32° warmer 
in winter, and 17° the whole year round 

"The currents of air heated by the thermal waters, are forced east, and 
spreading through the valleys of the great mountain range, give to Utah (four 
thousand and five hundred feet above the sea), grapes, peaches, apricots, cotton, 
the sugar cane, and other tropical productions. To Colorado, along the eastern 
base of the mountains, at an altitude of five thousand feet, it gives the climate of 
Virginia and Tennessee. 

" This heated wind, the warm, balmy breath of the topics, makes the snow 
and ice shrink and retire up the sides of the lofty Sierre Madre ; giving up the 
land to the wild rose, the mountain lily, and honey suckle, the columbine, and 
the trailing arbutus, and hundreds more of all the flowers, all spreading out into 
a floral carpet of the richest and most varied colors. 

" Mild temperatures in our high altitudes and latitudes are not of their kind 
wonderful in comparison with Asia, whose table-lands in the great Himalayas 
are many degrees north of ours, and higher than the tops of Long's Peak and 
Fremont's Peak and Mt. Hood. 

"The Plains of Sadak, belonging to the Rajah of Cashmere, in latitude 40°, 
are fifteen thousand feet high. Their snow and rain fall is less than ours. Herds 
of cattle, sheep, and horses gaze upon them the year round, while still higher on 
the hill sides which surround them, the Tartars grow barley and oats each year. 



252 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



MEAN TEMPERATURE OF POINTS ON THE PLAINS AND IN THE MOUNTAINS. 

" Fort Kearney, Nebraska, has a mean temperature of 50°, so has the whole 
North Platte region to the fcot of the Black Hills. 

"All the Missouri River, from Omaha to one hundred miles north of Fort 
Benton, has a mean temperature for the year of 45° Fahrenheit. All the country 
intervening between the North Platte on the south — the Hne of 59° temperature 
— and the Missouri River on the north, has a temperature between 45° and 50°. 
There is no part of the country north of the Union Pacific Railroad and south the 
British line, north and south, and between the Missouri River on the east, and 
the Rocky Mountains on the west, that has a lower annual temperature than 45°. 
South of the Union Pacific Railroad, to the Rio Grande, the mean annual tem- 
perature varies from 50° to 60°. No single point has been found south of the 
Union Pacific Railroad, east of the mountains and west of the Mississippi, where 
the temperature is below 50°. Nor is there a point where it is higher than 65°." 

THE RAINFALL. 

The facts above stated concerning the prevalent directions of the winds ex- 
plain the mystery of the western rainfall. The southern winds coming up from 
the gulf in spring and early summer bear moisture which is precipitated into rain 
in the higher latitudes. In the latter part of the season the winds coming in the 
other direction their moisture is precipitated in snow upon the mountains, and 
they reach the great plains dry and cool. Owing to this fact, three-fourths of 
the annual rainfall in the country west of the Missouri River occurs in April, May 
and June — just the season when the growing crops and grasses need it, while in 
the latter part of the year, when dry weather is needed to mature the crops, it 
presents exactly the requisite conditions. 

That is what manifestly gave rise to that popular myth of twenty years ago 
— " The Great American Desert." Travelers, voyageurs a.nd emigrants crossing 
the great plains, leaving the Missouri River in May, reached the supposed locality 
of this great arid plain after the larger part of the rainfall of the year had been 
precipitated. They found it dry and covered with a short bunchy grass which 
was unknown to them, and which was, therefore, supposed to be a worthless, 
scrubby product, incident to an arid and desert region. Later experience and 
more adequate observation develops the facts that the rainfall is not so much less 
than in other districts, as had been supposed, but occurs at a particular season, and 
that the short bunchy and supposed worthless grass is the best grass in the world 
for all ruminant animals. 

In this connection the following tables relative to the rainfall will be found 
interesting and valuable: 



Names of Stations. 


r 


Long. . 

1 


> 


3 






3" 


> 
■a 


•< 


c 

3 
n 


3 H 
^ 




39° 03' 


96° 35' 
95° 16' 
96° 40' 
96° 32' 
94° 54' 


1,300 
884 

1,300 

1,000 
896 

.... 


0.44 
2.30 
50 
3.50 
1 44 
1.65 


0.54 
0.65 
20 
1 35 
1.07 
0.82 


1.11 

2.30 
50 
1.70 
1.50 
1.42 


1.01 
2.86 
1.40 
2.30 
1.40 
1.79 


2.30 
1.41 
2.98 
2.70 
1.00 
2.09 


4.22 
3.58 

4 31 

5 65 
3.55 
4 26 


9.62 
13 45 




38° 58' 
39° 12' 
38° 42' 
32° 21' 




9 89 




17 20 


Fort Leavenworth 


9.96 
12 02 











The following table shows the rainfall at the stations named, west of sixth 
principal meridian, from January ist to July ist, 1874: 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



253 



Names of Stations. 


s 


r 

o 
3 
ffq 


> 


Fort Havs 


38° 59' 


99° 20' 


2,107 
1,932 ' 


Fort Wallace 


Fort Larned • . . 

Mean 


38'^ 10' 


98° 57' 



1.33 
U.09 
0.27 
0.f« 



1.80 7.2(i 
0.68 0.20 
2.47 I 0.53 
1 65 2.66 



2 34 
0.50 
2 (iO 
1.81 



3.68 
3.31 
3 45 

3.48 



2.18 
19 
1.15 
1.18 



3 H 
o ^ 

3 _, 



18 58 
4.97 
10.47 
1J.34 



THE EXTENT OF THE FALL. 



The Agricultural Department furnishes the following statement of the average 
fall of rain in the several States below named, in the months of May, June, July 
and August, for a period of ten years, which shows favorably for the New West : 



Inches. 

Indiana ^S-So 

Missouri . 1 5-37 

New York. 15-25 

Nebraska 14.96 

Vermont 14.69 

Illinois 14.68 

Rhode Island i4-45 

New Hampshire 14-27 

Wisconsin i4-i5 

Michigan 14.01 



Inches. 

Kansas ip-ip 

New Jersey 17.21 

Iowa 1 7- 05 

Connecticut 16.70 

Massachusetts 16.47 

Pennsylvania 16.28 

Maryland 16.12 

Kentucky 16.12 

Maine 16.10 

Minnesota i5-9i 

Ohio 15.75 

Col. R. S. Elliott, late industrial agent of the Kansas Pacific Railway, made 
this subject a special study, and in his " Industrial Resources," says: 

" Within a few years the rain-gauge has been brought into service at points 
distant from each other, but located at irregular intervals across the continent, 
and its record shows not only greater precipitation than was formerly believed to 
takfc place on the plains, but that the distribution is unequal in time, giving us the 
largest proportions in the growing seasons — spring and summer." 

In his late work, "The Mississippi Valley," Prof. J. W. Foster, says: "The 
rains which water the Atlantic slope are equally distributed, the variations being 
very slight; while those which water the Mississippi Valley are unequally dis- 
tributed, those of spring and summer being greatly in excess — a fact," he says, 
" which has been overlooked by most meteorologists in reference to the geograph- 
ical distributions of plants." As we pass westward from the Atlantic the inequal- 
ity increases until we pass the Rocky Mountains. "Contrasting the two stations, 
New York and Fort Laramie," says Prof. Foster, " it will be seen that on the sea- 
board about forty eight per cent, of the yearly precipitations occurs during the 
fall and winter, while on the plains only twenty-five per cent, occurs during that 
period, and that, while on the sea-board the precipitation is nearly uniform during 
the four seasons, three-fourths of the precipitation on the plains occurs during 
spring and summer." 

At Fort Riley about sixty-nine per cent, of the annual precipitation is in 
spring and summer ; at Fort Kearney, eighty-one, and at Fort Laramie, seventy- 
one per cent. From observations at Forts Harker, Hays and Wallace on the line 
of the Kansas Pacific, the same rule seems to hold good. Records have not 
been long enough continued at these three posts to give a long average, but the 
mean appears to be between seventeen and nineteen inches at Hays and Wallace, 
and probably more at Harker. 

A popular belief exists in Kansas and Nebraska that since the settlement, the 
planting of trees and the cultivation of the soil, the rainfall has increased, and 
upon this is founded the prediction that within a brief period dry seasons will 
become unknown. Referring to this subject, Col. Elliot wrote to Prof. Henry a 
few years ago, as follows: 



254 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. ^ 

" Facts such as these seem to sustain the popular persuasion in Kansas, that 
a climatic change is taking place, prompted by the spread of settlements, west- 
wardly, breaking up portions of the prairie soil, covering the earth with plants 
that shade the ground more than the short grasses ; thus checking or modifying 
the reflection of heat from the earth's surface. This fact is also noted, that where 
the prairie soil is not disturbed, the short buffalo grass disappears as the 'frontier' 
extends westward, and its place is taken by grasses and other herbage of taller 
growth. That this change of the clothing of the plains, if sufficiently extensive, 
might have a modifying influence on the climate, I do not doubt ; but whether 
the change has been already spread over a large enough area, and whether our 
apparently, or really wetter seasons may not be part of a cycle, are unsettled 
questions. 

" The civil engineers of this railway believe that the rains and humidity of 
the plains have increased during the extension of railroads and telegraph across 
them. If this is the case, it may be that the mysterious electrical influence in 
which they seem to have so much faith, but do not profess to explain, has exer- 
cised a beneficial influence." 

Weston's Guide to the Kansas Pacific, published in 1872, commenting upon 
the statements of Col. Elliott, gives the observations of another gentleman who 
had devoted much attention to the subject. He says: "It is certain that rains 
have increased; this increase has coincided with the increase of settlements, rail- 
roads and telegraphs. If influenced by these, the change of climate will go on ; 
if by extra mundane influence, the change may be permanent, progressive or retro- 
grade. He thinks there are good grounds to believe it will be progressive. With- 
in the last fifteen years, in western Missouri and Iowa, and eastern Kansas and 
Nebraska, a very large aggregate of surface has been broken up, and holds more 
of the rain than formerly. During the same period modifying influences have 
been put in motion in Montana, Utah and Colorado. Very small areas of tim- 
bered land west of the Missouri have been cleared — not equal, perhaps, to the 
areas of forest, orchards and vineyards planted. Hence, it may be said that all 
the acts of man in this vast region have tended to produce conditions on the 
earth's surface to ameliorate the climate. With extended settlements on the 
Arkansas, Canada and Red rivers of the south, as well as on the river system of 
the Kaw Valley and on the Platte, the ameliorating conditions will be extended 
in like degree ; and it partakes more of sober reason than wild fancy to suppose 
that a permanent and beneficial change of climate can be experienced. The 
appalling deterioration of large portions of the earth's surface, through the acts of 
man in destroying the forest, justifies the trust that the culture of taller herbage 
and trees, in a region heretofore covered mainly with short grasses, may have a 
converse effect. Indeed, in Central Kansas, nature seems almost to precede 
settlements by the latter grasses and herbage." 

From the writings of Dr. Latham we glean the following additional facts : 

" From the same authority (Surgeon General Lawson) the rainfall for the 
whole year east of the summit of the Snowy Range, is as follows : 

" All the country west of Omaha, on the line of the Union Pacific Railroad, 
as far as Fort Kearney, is in this belt, where twenty-five inches of rain fall 
yearly. 

" West of Fort Kearney, extending to the Sierra Madre, on this railroad line, 
including the Black Hills and Laramie Plains, is the belt where twenty inches 
^fall annually, with the exception of a small portion of country in Texas called 
the Staked Plain. These two belts include all the trans-Missouri country west 
from the Missouri and Mississippi to the Snowy Range, This rainfall includes 
the snow reduced to water measure, twelve inches of snow making one inch of 
water. This water falls mostly in the spring in gentle rains, during the month of 
May, which is the rainy season of the country. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 255 

" This month of May's rain gives our grasses their growth, and by the first to 
the 15th of June they are fully matured. Our rains th^n come in short showers, 
and the fall for the summer is small. Our grasses begin to cure, and by the first 
of September they have become perfectly cured, uncut hay. This one fact alone 
is the key to the great superiority of this country for grazing. 

" Our grasses cure instead of decomposing, as there is neither the heat nor the 
moisture, both of which are necessary for the chemical process of decomposi- 
tion. 

" As you leave the Missouri River you enter the belt of country where two 
feet of snow falls. This Delt extends like the first belt of rain to Fort Kearney. 
West of that point to the mountain's foot is the belt of eighteen inches. These 
two belts include all the country east of the mountains. The snow falls at a 
single storm are very light, three inches being exceptionally large, and this 
amount being dry and light, never lies on a level; in twenty-four hours from the 
time of fall the ground is bare." 

SOIL. 

The soil of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa is composed of what 
geologists call the Drift, Loess and Alluvial deposits. The first is of comparatively 
limited extent, and is mostly found combined with the Loess in what is known as 
Modified Drift. In this form it is very fertile, and yields sixty bushels of corn 
to the acre. The second embraces all the upland soil, and the third the bottom 
lands. Of the upland soils. Prof. Samuel Aughey, of Nebraska, says : 

" As would be expected, from the elements which chemical analysis shows 
to be present in these deposits, it forms one of the best soils in the world. In 
fact, it can never be exhausted until every hill and valley of which it is composed 
are entirely worn away. Its drainage, which is the best possible, owing to the 
remarkably fine comminuted silica of which the bulk of the deposit consists. 
When the ground is cultivated the most copious rains soon percolate through the 
soil, which, in its lowest depths, retains it like a huge sponge. Even the un- 
broken prairie absorbs much of the heavy rains that fall. When drouths come 
the moisture comes up from below by capillary attraction. And when it is con- 
sidered that the depth to the solid rock ranges generally from five to two hundred 
feet, it is seen how readily the needs of vegetation are supplied in the driest 
seasons. This is the main reason why over all the region where these deposits 
prevail the natural vegetation and the well-cultivated crops are rarely dried out 
or drowned out. I have frequently observed a few showers to fall in April, and 
then no more rain until June, when, as will be considered farther on, there is 
generally a rainy season of from two to four weeks' continuance. After these 
June rains little more would fall till autumn; and yet, if there was deep and 
thorough cultivation, the crops of corn, cereals and grass would be most abund- 
ant. This condition represents the dry seasons. On the other hand, the ex- 
tremely wet season only damage the crops over the low bottoms, subject to over- 
flow. Owing to the silicious nature of the soils they never bake when plowed in 
a wet condition, and a day after heavy rains the plow can again be successfully 
and safely used. 

" For all purposes of architecture this soil, even to the most massive struct- 
ures, is perfectly secure. I have never known a foundation of a large brick or 
stone building, if commenced below the winter frost line, to give way. Even 
when the first layers of brick and stone are laid on top of the ground there is 
seldom such unevenness of settling as to produce fractures in the walls. On no 
other deposits, except the solid rocks, are there such excellent roads. From 
twelve to twenty-four hours after the heaviest rains the roads are perfectly dry, 
and often appear, after being traveled a few days, like a vast floor formed from 
cement, and by the highest art of man. The drawback to this picture is that 
sometimes during a drought the air along the highways on windy days is filled 



256 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

with dust. And yet the soil is very easily worked, yielding readily to the spade 
or the plow. Excavation is remarkably easy, and no pick or mattock is thought 
of for such purpose. It might be expected that such a soil readily yielded to 
atmospheric influences, but such is not the case. Wells in this deposit are fre- 
quently walled up only to a point above the water-line, and on the remainder 
the spade marks will be visible for years. Indeed, the traveler over Nebraska 
will often be surprised to find spade-marks and carved out names and dates years 
after they were first made, where ordinary soils would soon have fallen away to a 
gentle slope. This peculiarity of the soil has often <been a God-send to poor 
emigrants. Such often cut out of the hill-side, a shelter for themselves and 
their stock. Many a time when caught out on the roads in a storm, far away 
from the towns, have I found shelter in a "dug-out" with an emigrant's family, 
where, cozy and warm, there was perfect comfort, with little expenditure of fuel 
on the coldest days. In summer such shelters are much cooler than frame or 
brick houses. I shall never forget one occasion in 1866 when, bewildered by a 
blinding snow-storm, I came to a " dug-out," and although all the chambers were 
carved out of the soil (Loess) they were perfectly dry. The walls were hidden 
and ornamented with Harpe^^s Weekly, with the emanations of Nast's genius, 
made to occupy the conspicuous corners. My hostess, whose cultivated intel- 
lect and kindly nature made even this abode a charming resort, was a graduate of 
an eastern seminary. Her husband, after a failure in business in New York, 
came here to commence life anew on a homestead by stock-raising. To get a 
start with young stock, no money could be spared for a house. Eight years after- 
ward I found the same family financially independent and living in a beautiful 
brick mansion, but I doubt whether they had any more substantial happiness 
than when they were looking for better days in the old temporary "dug-out." 
Thousands who are still coming into this land of promise are still doing the same 
thing. So firmly does the material of this deposit stand that after excavations 
are made in it, underground passages without number could be constructed with- 
out meeting any obstacles, and without requiring any protection from walls and 
timber." 

Of the bottom lands — the alluvium — Prof. Aughey says: 
"When now we bring into our estimate all the river bottoms, and the tribu- 
taries of these rivers, and reflect that all these valleys were formed in the same 
way, within comparatively modern geological times, the forces which water agen- 
cies brought into play almost appall the mind by their very immensity. So well 
are these bottom lands distributed that the emigrants can, in most of the counties 
of the State, choose between them and the uplands for their future home. In 
some of these new counties, like Fillmore, where bottom lands are far apart, there 
are many small, modern, dried-up lake-beds, whose soil is closely allied to that of 
the valleys. Not unfrequently is the choice made of portions of each, on the 
supposition that the bottom lands are best adapted for the growth of large crops 
of grasses. But all the years of experience in cultivating upland and bottoms in 
Nebraska leave the question of superiority of one over the other undecided. 
Both have their advocates. The seasons as well as the locations have much to 
do with the question. Some bottom lands are high and dry, while others are 
lower and contain so much alumina, that in wet seasons they are difficult to 
work. On such lands, too, a wet spring interferes with early planting and sow- 
ing. All the uplands, too, which have a Loess origin, seem to produce 
cultivated grass as luxuriantly as the richest bottoms, especially where there is 
deep cultivation on old breaking. Again, most of the bottom lands are so min- 
gled with Loess materials, and their drainage is so good that the cereal grains and 
fruits are as productive on them as on the high lands. The bottom lands, are, 
however, the richest in organic matter." 

On the same subject we have the following from the annual report of 1864 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 257 

of Prof. Mudge, State geologist of Kansas. It applies equally to all the river 
bottoms from the Platte to the Red river : 

"The alluvial deposits in Kansas are so similar to those of the older western 
States that no particular description becomes necessary. The river bottoms are 
usually broad and level, but well drained. The thickness varies from five to fifty 
feet. In various places in the valley of the Neosho, unaltered wood has been 
found at the latter depth in digging wells. ■ The nature of this alluvium, or sur- 
face, is very rich in vegetable matter, and in many places furnishes a nourishing 
soil throughout its whole thickness. In some cases it is, in part, composed of 
modified drift. At the salt well in Brown county, a metamorphic boulder was 
found fifcy-two feet below the surface. The humus, or vegetable mold, of the 
high prairie is from one to three feet in depth. It is the usual development of 
the prairie features, so common in the other western States. It is the same fine, 
black, rich loam which has become noted as the most fertile soil in the world." 

J. B. Lyman, Esq., agricultural editor of the New York Tribune, after a tour 
of five thousand miles through the West, in 187 1, read an article before the 
Farmers' Club at Cooper Institute, in which he made the following statements: 

" The prairie is substantially unbroken and homogeneous in its character 
from the valley of the Wabash to Fort Kearney. It is by nature an immense 
grassy plain, sometimes quite flat, generally more or less rolling, and occasionally 
broken by bluffs and sharp acclivities, with a region not adapted to the plow. 
But I think four-fifths, and probably seven-eighths, of the Prairie States can be 
plowed with as little difficulty and with as ample returns as any part of the rich 
alluvial places of the East. 

" Yet I speak advisedly and not without a full impression on my mind, of 
the exceeding attractiveness and fertility of land in southern Minnesota, when I 
say that the most attractive country that I saw is west of the Missouri River." 

In 1868 Prof. Louis Agassiz visited Kansas. He declared that he never 
before had seen so good a soil as he had seen in Kansas and Missouri, and he 
declared its fruits to be equal to any he had ever tasted. 

Edward P>erett Hale, in a book on Kansas, quotes from another writer who 
says: " It is unrivaled for the fertility of its soil, the value of its timber and 
forest trees, the amenity and beauty of its broad prairies, the number of its crystal 
streams and the salubrity of its climate." Mr. Hale himself adds : " For nearly 
two hundred miles west from the Missouri, a rich vegetable soil, sufficiently 
wooded, is found throughout the whole of this valley (the Kaw). It is the region 
of which the eastern part has been principally occupied by the Shawnees, Dela- 
wares and Pottawatomies, whose indolent farming even produces them the most 
remarkable results. The soil produces wheat, corn and hemp in great abundance, 
and is to all appearances inexhaustible. Every variety of timber known in the 
western forests is found there in sufficient quantity to answer the purposes of 
settlers. * * * The general appearance of the country is that of vast rolling 
fields inclosed with colossal hedges." 

In a book entitled, '' Irish Immigration to the United States; What it Has 
Been and Is," written by Rev. Stephen Byrne, and published by the Cathohc 
Publication Society of New York in 1873, occurs the following statements relative 
to Kansas : 

" The soil is very productive throughout, mostly presenting a rolling surface, 
thus affording superior drainage. Every kind of fruit and grain can be grown ; 
it is especially adapted to the growing of the grape. The rich, black soil is gener- 
ally from two to six feet and more thick. 

" The climate is very salubrious throughout; new sections of the country 
are visited by intermittent fever in the spring and fall, which disappears with the 
progress of the cultivation of the soil. Vast numbers of people who have been 
in feeble health in the more Eastern States, contend that they have been greatly 



258 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



benefited by the climate. The summer heat is rendered less oppressive and ex- 
cessive by a continual breeze, and the nights are very refreshing." 

AGRICULTURE. 

The foregoing facts concerning the climate, soil, and rainfall of the New 
West, leaves but little to be said concerning its agricultural resources, except to 
show what may be produced and what yields may be expected. But the smallest 
part of the agricultural land is yet in cultivation, and the aggregate yields, 
immense as they are, constitute but a moiety of what they will assuredly become. 

No country could be better adapted to agriculture. The whole surface of 
the country, away from the timbered streams, is one vast rolling plain. All the 
agriculturist has to do, is to plow and plant it. It has been the usual experience 
of immigrants to Kansas and Nebraska, that their crops the first year paid for the 
first year's work, and it is not unusual that it is the only dependence of the immi- 
grant for support, and the means with which to make a second. That it usually 
suffices for this purpose is the highest testimonial to the agricultural capabilities of 
the country. 

In western Missouri and Kansas, winter wheat and corn are the great sta- 
ples. In western Iowa and Nebraska, spring wheat and corn are the great 
staples. Besides these, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, sorghum, broom-corn, castor 
beans, flax, hemp, and all kinds of grasses, native and cultivated, flourish; and 
in southern Kansas and Texas, cotton and sweet potatoes are grown success- 
fully. 

The following statement of yields will be found interesting. It is the aver- 
age of the States named, for nine years, from 1864 to 1872 inclusive : 





c 
n 




0' 


l-H 

5' 





1— 1 



p 


n 
cr 
i-i 

en 


w 

P 
en 


Wheat 

Corn 

Rye 


8.8 

28.9 

II. 2 


II. 4 

34-4 
12.9 


12.0 

30-9 
16. 1 


131 
31-3 

16.9 


13.2 

36.7 

18.2 


13-6 

34-7 
20.0 


15-7 

34-6 
21. i' 



In Kansas winter wheat makes a better average yield than spring, and the 
average at least one-fourth higher than that above given, or about twenty bushels. 
Spring wheat succeeds best in Nebraska and Iowa, and in Nebraska has been 
known to make a yearly average of twenty-eight bushels. 

The following table will show the average of some other crops in the four of 
the States named : 



Oats, bushels per acre . . . 
Barley, bushels per acre . . 
Buckwheat, bushels per acre 
Potatoes, bushels per acre . 



g 


^ 


^ 




p 


a> 


en 
{/I 




en 
P 




C 




C/) 


>-i 




'K 


r^ ■ 




p 


33-0 


42.1 


41.3 


23.1 


30.6 


30.2 


21. 1 


18.5 


16.7 


1 15.0 


149.0 


140.0 



37-3 

26.5 

16.7 

122.0 



The Centennial edition of the report of the Kansas State Board of Agricul- 
ture makes a comparison of the yield of corn and wheat for twelve consecutive 
years in Kansas and several other States — Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri — in which it will be seen that the average 
for the seven States was: Of corn, 33 bushels; Kansas, 36.3. Of wheat, the aver* 
age for the sevenStates was 13.4 bushels ; of Kansas it was 15.8 bushels. 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 259 

Western Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa have about as large yields of corn as 
Kansas. Western Missouri yields about the same in fall wheat as Kansas. 
Iowa and Nebraska yield about the same average per acre of spring wheat. But 
of the aggregate yields of the country, we have no statistics later than the general 
census of 1870 — the census of 1880 not being yet available. A careful computa- 
tion from the census shows for that year, ending June, there was produced in 
this region 26,4152,116 bushels of wheat; 631,353 bushels of rye, 89,236,854 
bushels of corn ; 24,367,214 bushels of oats, 1,429,946 bushels of barley, 1,846,- 
138 tons of hay, 6,235,366 pounds of tobacco. 

In live stock it produced : Of hogs 2,596,185 ; cattle other than exclusively 
grass-fed, 533,833, of grass-fed 2,061,343 ; exclusive of the Indian Territory where 
there are large herds, but from which there are no returns; of mules, 116,585 • 
of sheep, 233,326; of horses, 885,833. 

The value in soil products of the amount produced by these figures, at the 
current market rates paid at Kansas City, would amount to $85,228,837. And 
the live stock, at a low average per head, are in value $26,557,640. 

Or, in the aggregate, this portion of the Union produced in 1870, from its 
soil alone, a wealth of more than one hundred and twenty-eight millions of dol- 
lars. In 1880 the production was many fold greater. 

FRUIT GROWING, 

The country is yet so new that its capacity for the production of fruit is but 
inadequately developed. The effort so far has been largely experimental, for the 
climate and soil, differing somewhat from the country already settled, produces 
different results with the same varieties. Some of those which succeed best in 
more eastern localities do not succeed well here, hence the country may be said 
to be just ascertaining what fruits will pay. 

Of its natural adaptability for fruits there can be no question. In no country 
in the world is there a greater variety or abundance of wild fruits, and in no 
country do they present more vigorous growths or finer natural flavors. Of the 
natural adaptation of the country we quote from Prof. Aughey, of Nebraska. 
What he says of the natural adaptability of the country applies equally well to,all 
parts as well as Nebraska, because it is all of the same character. Referring to 
the soil deposits he says : 

" As would be expected, these deposits are also a paradise for the cultivated 
fruits of the temperate zones. They luxuriate in a soil like this, which has per- 
fect natural drainage and is composed of such materials. No other region, ex- 
cept the valleys of the Nile and of the Rhine, can in these respects compare with 
the Loess deposits of Nebraska. The Loess of the Rhine supplies Europe with 
some of its finest wines and grapes. The success that has already attended the 
cultivation of the grape in southeastern Nebraska, at least, demonstrates that the 
State may likewise become remarkable in this respect. For the cultivation of the 
apple its superiority is demonstrated. Nebraska, although so young in years, 
has taken the premium over all the other States in the pomological fairs at Rich- 
mond and Boston. Of course there are obstacles here in the way of the pomolo- 
gist as well as in other favored regions. But what is claimed is that the soil, as 
anilysis and experience prove, is eminently adapted to grape and especially to 
apple-tree culture. The chief obstacle is particularly met with in the interior of 
the State, and results from the climate. In midsummer occasional hot, dry 
winds blow from the southwest. These winds, where the trunks of apple trees 
are exposed, blister and scald the bark on the south side, and frequently kill the 
trees. It is found, however, that when young trees are caused to throw out 
limbs near to the ground, they are completely protected, or if that has not been 
done, a shingle tacked on that side of the tree prevents all damage from that 
source. Many fruit-growers also claim that cottonwood and box-elder groves on 



260 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 

the south side of orchards is all that is necessary to protect them from these 
storms. I mention this here to put any new settler who may read this and who 
has not'learned the experience of fruit-growers m this State, on his guard." 

In addition to the fact above stated by Prof. Aughey, that Nebraska took 
the premium over all other States at the pomological fairs of Boston and Rich- 
mond, it needs only to be stated that Kansas took the premium over all other 
States at the fair of the National Pomological society, at Philadelphia, in 1869, at 
the fair of the American Pomological society, at Richmond, in 1871, and has 
taken highest premiums at the fairs of the Pennsylvania Horticultural society, at 
the St. Louis fair, at the State fairs of New York, New Hampshire, and at the 
New England fair at Lowell, Mass. 

These facts sufficiently establish the character of Kansas and Nebraska as 
fruit growing States. In 1873 a collection of Missouri fruits from the western 
part of the State took the premium at the Kansas State Fair, which sufficiently tes- 
tifies to the quality of Missouri as a fruit State. At this fair there was an exten- 
sive display of California fruits, intended for exhibition only, which brought the 
fruits of Kansas and Missouri into close position and critical comparison with 
those of the most famous fruit State in the Union, And they did not suffer 
either as to size, perfection, or flavor. 

Although the fruit interest of these States is young and but little developed, 
displays of fruit have become a prominent feature, and a most attractive one at 
all their fairs. And it is the verdict of visitors from the east that better fruits are 
not grown anywhere in the United States. Kansas is the only State from which 
we have any late statistics of acreage in fruit. She had, in 1875, 100,489.97 
in all fruits except grapes, and 3,004.44 acres in vineyard. 

LIVE STOCK. 

A country possessing such favorable conditions of climate and producing so 
abundantly of all that feeds animal life could not be otherwise than favorable for 
stock growing. It has been the experience of farmers and freighters that cattle 
and mules live and thrive on the native grasses of the western plains and main- 
tain fair conditions of flesh although continually under the yoke or in the harness. 
In many parts of the country cattle are subsisted exclusively on grass the year 
round and are never provided with shelter, yet they thrive and fatten and are con- 
verted into beef without further feed. 

Stock of ah kinds is becoming a great interest with the farmers of Kansas 
and Nebraska, as it has already with those of Missouri and Iowa. Cattle, hogs 
and sheep are, however, taking the lead, as they do everywhere. 

As to the adaptability of the country for hogs, little need be said, besides 
what has been said already relative to the climate and abundance of the yield of 
corn, which make that one of the most profitable as well as most easily handled 
kinds of stock. It has already become a prominent interest. However, there 
were in 1880 1,281,630 hogs in Kansas, and in Nebraska 767,702, and there are 
as many now. 

CATTLE. 

The production of cattle has become a very profitable branch of agriculture, 
and farmers prefer feeding their corn to shipping it. In 1880, there were in 
Kansas 748,672 head of catde other than milch cows, and in Nebraska in 1880, 
675,244. This does not include grass-fed cattle which are the chief stock 
resources of the country, but of these there are no statistics. They are mostly 
driven from Texas at the rate of from 175,000 to 400,000 head per annum, and 
fattened on the western plains, after which are sold at the Kansas City market, 
western Kansas and Nebraska, and Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, are well 
stocked with them, and the supply is exhaustless and annually increasing. In 
fact, there is no country in the world so well adapted to them as the western 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 261 

plains. A few years ago Dr. Latham, of Omaha, collected much valuable 
information relative to the adaptability of the plains of western Nebraska and 
Colorado for stock growing. It is needless here to give any extended summary 
of the facts collected by him. He summarized them all in the following: 

"In conclusion, to be brief, I think no one can deny nor doubt that the 
above testimony proves conclusively that we have 1,000,000,000 acres of pastur- 
age, where wool can be produced as cheap as in Buenos Ayres, where 1,000,000,- 
000 sheep can graze summer and winter, where beef and mutton can be raised at 
so low a price that the poorest paid labor can have an abundance, and that we 
should be exporters of all classes of animal productions, instead of dependent 
importers. It does not need prophetic vision to see, within the next quarter of 
a century, a time equaled by Mr. Ward's and Mr. Major's experience, 20,000,- 
000 of people west of the Missouri River, with more live stock than is in the 
States east of it, and our country providing the wool to run the spindles of the 
world. There is much more to be said in connection with this subject, such as 
descriptions of particular locations for stock, but I have treated of this subject at 
such length that I forbear. My excuse for such great length is the magnitude of 
this national subject." 

SHEEP. 

The production of sheep and wool has also become a great interest in Kan- 
sas and Nebraska, and it is rapidly increasing. In 1880, Kansas had 416,492 
sheep, and Nebraska in 1880 had 194,159, and in Colorado, 782,649 Of the 
number in New Mexico we have no statistics, but the number is very great and 
annually increasing. In regard to sheep raising on the western plains, we quote 
again from Dr. H. Latham: 

" All the country lying west of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers is of that 
high, dry, rolling character which is so favorable for the growth of the healthiest 
sheep and most valuable fibers of wool. 

"All of the trans-Missouri country, west of the ninety-eighth meridian, to 
the crest of the Snowy Range, has less than six weeks of rainy season, which is 
in the month of May, after the cold weather. Usually there is no rain fall from 
November till May. The snow is dry and round and does not adhere to the 
sheep. There is not an acre of all the billion acres of country that does not fur- 
nish summer and winter grazing for sheep. There is winter grazing enough in 
Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, to graze all the sheep in the United States. 
Australia and the Argentine Republic, the aggregate of whose wool product is 
300,000,000 pounds, worth $100,000,000.. 

" There is plenty, of water for countless liocks in the network of streams that 
drain our mountain ranges of their snows. 

" There is an entire absence of the marshy lands and wet soils so destructive 
to sheep in the form of "foot ail." The sheep in New Mexico, Colorado and 
Utah have not, after ten years in the two latter Territories and forty years experi- 
ence in the former, developed any diseases. The universal testimony has been 
in all our Territories and States west of the Missouri River that there have been 
no diseases among the flocks, and that they have improved in the quality and 
quantity of the fleeces. 

"The great fact of winter grazing will enable our flock-masters to make wool 
growing exceedingly remunerative. In many instances which came under my 
own observation here on the plains, flocks have yielded one hundred per cent 
annually upon the investment in them. 

"In countries where either the natural resources or protection makes wool 
growing profitable, it makes most wonderful advancement. The industry of 
South America, South Africa and Australia does not date back more than a 
quarter of a century — and now they export 250,000,000 pounds. 

" There are many remarkable instances of rapid increase in wool growing, but 



262 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



there is nothing that shows how rapidly the product can be increased, and how 
wonderfully the demand increases, so much as the figures of England's importa- 
tion thirty years ago — then seventy-four thousand bales were imported from 
Germany; ten thousand bales from Spain and Portugal; British colonies, eight 
thousand bales ; other places, five thousand ; total, ninety-eight thousand bales. 
In 1864 there were imported from Australia three hundred and two thousand 
bales ; Cape of Good Hope, sixty-eight thousand bales ; South America, ninety- 
nine thousand bales ; and two hundred, and nineteen thousand, three hundred 
and thirty-six bales from other sources — in all, six hundred and eighty-eight 
thousand, three hundred and thirty-six bales. Australia now supplies more than 
three times the whole amount of foreign wool consumed in England thirty years 
ago, and the production of South America exceeds the whole consumption then." 

HOGS. 

A country possessing such a climate as the New West is here shown to pos- 
sess and producing such an abundance of corn cannot fail to be exceedingly 
prolific in the production of hogs. In fact, this is one of the leading interests of 
the corn-growing part of this country, as shown in the following table of the 
number taxed in the States named in 1880. We add in this table also, the 
number of cattle, horses and sheep in these States for the year 1880 and for the 
three preceding years, thus showing the increase from year to year : 





Horses. 


Cattle. 


Hogs. 


Sheep. 


Missouri 


964,039 
673,055 
367,589 
198,381 
69,274 
10,602 
966,760 


1,843,533 
1,528,109 
748,672 
675,244 
541,563 
269,626 

3,552,192 


3,367,279 

2,213,226 

1,281,630 

767,702 

456 
1,599,686 


1,436,820 

301,752 
416,492 

194,959 

782,649 

171,810 

2,546,582 


Iowa 


Kansas 

Nebraska 

Colorado 

Wyoming 

Texas 


Total 1880 


3,249,700 


9,158,940 


9,329,979 


•5,951,074 


Total 1879 


2,104,337 


7,396,890 


7,383,013 


3,356,093 


Total 1878 


1,782,028 


6,353,742 


6,832,566 


3,083,831 


Total 1877 


1,935,176 


6,127,702 


4,826,610 


3,589,034 



TIMBER. 

The timber resources of the New West are large notwithstanding it is a prai- 
rie country. The prairie part of the country is, of course, dependent upon other 
locahties for its supplies, but in Missouri, Arkansas, southeastern Kansas and 
Indian Territory, there are large forests of black walnut, oak, hickory, ash and 
other valuable hard woods for manufacturing purposes, while in parts of Arkan- 
sas and Texas there are heavy forests of hard pine. The extension of railroads 
will soon make available such of these woods as are not available now. 



MINERAL RESOURCES. 



Of the mineral resources of the New West, probably less is known than of 
any of its other resources. The mines are yet in so undeveloped a state that no 
adequate idea of their extent can be attained. But enough is known to warrant 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 263 

the assertion that no other similar area in the world has such a variety or such an 
extent of mineral wealth. 

SALT. 

There is salt enough in Kansas and Nebraska to supply the continent, and 
it is of exceptional purity. At the great salt wells at Lincoln, Nebraska, and at 
numerous places along the lines of the Kansas Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe Railroads in Kansas, the salt water flows to the surface, and crystallizes 
by solar evaporation into huge cakes, of exceptional strength and purity. This 
great interest is as yet wholly undeveloped, but at some future time salt from these 
locaUties will constitute a prominent feature of Kansas City's commerce. 

COAL. 

The coal resources of the New West are also immense. All southwest Mis- 
souri and southeastern Kansas are underlaid with a superior article of bituminous 
coal. About fifteen thousand car loads are annually moved along the line of the 
Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf road, most of which is sold in this city. The 
veins lie near the surface, which makes mining easy and cheap. The prevailing 
price in this city is not materially above that of other cities contiguous to coal 
mines, and the quality of our coal is very superior for fuel and steam purposes. 

That obtained at Fort Scott will run a railway engine sixty-five miles to the 
ton, while forty-five is the highest of other soft coals obtained in the United 
States. All the western part of Missouri, south of the river, is underlaid with 
coal of the same veins, and hence of the same quality, and it extends westward 
in Kansas, to an ascertained distance of seventy-five miles, and may be found 
much farther west. In the mountain districts of the west it is abundant. 

LEAD. 

This mineral is found in great quantities in southwest and southern Missouri, 
and as far west and north as Pleasanton, Kansas. The principal mines at the pres- 
ent time are at Joplin, Missouri, and they have been developed within the past six 
years, though known for a much longer time. It is the best soft lead found on 
the American continent, and is, we believe, the only American lead of which the 
best quality of paints can be made, without an admixture of foreign lead. Of 
the extent of the product there are no statistics. 

ZINC 

Is also found at Joplin, Missouri, of exceptional purity and richness, and it is be- 
ing successfully mined and smelted. The late Hon. Henry T. Blow, of St. Louis, 
affirms that it is from fifty-five to sixty-five per cent, oxide, or thirty-five to fifty 
per cent, pure metal. 

IRON. 

Missouri is already famous for the extent and richness of her mines. This 
reputation has been made principally by the ores found in the southeastern part of 
the State, but the same deposit extends to the western. In fact, all southern 
Missouri is underlaid with it, as with coal and lead, though outside of the mines 
at Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain, it is but little developed. It is found also in 
inexhaustible quantities in the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. 

GOLD AND SILVER. 

The gold and silver mines of Colorado and New Mexico have been famous 
for many years. Specie and bullion from New Mexico was a prominent article 
of traffic in the old days of the Santa Fe trade at Kansas City, though the mines 
were then but little developed and worked only by the indolent Mexicans. 
The extent and richness of these mines will not be ascertained for many years to 



264 



HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. 



come. The whole Rocky Mountain country is full of gold and silver, as well as 
coal, iron and lead. Of the annual yield of most of these minerals the statistics 
are not available, but we here quote from a report for i8So, carefully compiled by 
John J. Valentine, Superintendent of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, St. Louis, 
the total product of the precious metals of the western mines for, indeed, it will 
be seen that that and other sections connected commercially with Kansas City 
show the largest increase : 

STATES AND TERRITORIES. PRODUCT 1880 

Colorado $21,284,989 

California 18,276,166 

Nevada 15,031,621 

Oregon • 1,059,641 

Washington 105,164 

Idaho 1,894,747 

Montana 3,822,379 

Utah. . 6,450,953 

New Mexico 711,300 

Dakota 4,123,081 

Arizona 4,472,471 

Mexico (West Coast) 2,090,557 

British Columbia 844,867 



$80,167,936 
Commenting on the product of the mines Mr. Valentine says: "Colorado 
shows an increase of $6,871,474 over our report of last year — chiefly from Lead- 
ville district. California shows an increase in gold of $579,579, and a decrease 
in silver of $360,873. Nevada shows a total falling off of $6,966,093, the yield 
from the Comstock being only $5,312,592, as against $8,830,562 in 1879, a 
decrease of $3,517,970. The product of Eureka district is $4,639,025, as against 
$5,859,261 in 1879, a decrease of $1,220,236. Utah shows an increase of $982,- 
074. Dakota shows an increase of $914,094. Arizona shows a notable in- 
crease." 




U V 



